News

A court in Baku has refused to apply the conditional early relief (CER) to Elchin Mamed, a human rights defender and journalist parole, who has served half of his sentence. His defence announced lodging an appeal, and Elchin's mother said that he continued his hunger strike demanding his release.

In Tbilisi, during the action against the LGBT Week, policemen detained 26 people, who were accused of hooliganism and disobeying to the police.

Another group of volunteers has flown from Grozny to the zone of the military operation. This was announced on July 1 by the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, in his Telegram channel.

The murder committed during a mass brawl at a football match in the village of Botlikh has created a pretext for a blood feud.

Russian courts usually underestimate the amount of compensation for the death of relatives as a result of law enforcers' actions, but the 20,000 roubles awarded to Natalia Zagudaeva, a resident of the Krasnodar Territory, for the death of her child during the second Chechen campaign are a disproportionate compensation.

Since the start of the military operation in Ukraine, regional authorities have reported the deaths of at least 312 natives of the North-Caucasian and 138 – of the Southern Federal District (NCFD and SFD). Most casualties were from Dagestan – at least 159 persons.

The head of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, has promised to help in organizing Hajj at the expense of Suleiman Kerimov to relatives of those who perished during the special military operation.

At a protest action, activists called on the Judicial-Legal Council of Azerbaijan to ensure the transparency of court hearings and allow the presence of human rights defenders and media.

Brothers Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev, convicted on the charge of aiding and abetting a militant, are brought to places of serving their sentences. Their transfer from Grozny began at the beginning of the month.

Murman Zoidze, a cameraman of the “Pirveli” TV Company, continues to work as usual. But after an attack on him, Adjarian journalists proceed with increased caution, as the local media are to cover stories that cause public outcry and its employees often face aggression, including from officials.

A woman from Surgut, a native of Azerbaijan, apologized for insulting Russians during the conflict in a house chat, but Internet users questioned her sincerity.

The UK has allocated £ 500,000 to support the demining operations in Azerbaijan and Armenia. The funds will come through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the British Embassy to Baku has announced.

The mother and a brother of a 21-year-old conscript who perished in a military unit located in the city of Kotelnikovo would not agree with investigators' version about suicide. They claim that the soldier had problems with his colleagues.

The leader of Chechnya posted a report on the construction of bases for new battalions. Two battalions, “Vostok-Akhmat” and “Zapad-Akhmat”, have been already been manned, the “Chechnya Today” reports.

The Strasbourg Court points out that the payment ordered by the Azerbaijani court in a defamation lawsuit against the “Azadlyg” publication and its editor-in-chief Ganimat Zayidov, known under the pseudonym Ganimat Zakhid, was a violation of freedom of expression.

If amendments to the law on compatriots are adopted, many Circassians abroad will be excluded from their number, primarily due to the requirement of knowledge of the Russian language, notes Valery Khatazhukov.

Insa Lander, a blogger from Kabardino-Balkaria, decided to escape from house arrest, as she realized that she would not be able to prove by legal methods that she was not guilty on the charge of promoting terrorism.

The Krasnodar Territorial Court has ruled to pay 20,000 roubles to Natalia Zagudaeva, a resident of Belorechensk, as compensation for the death of her three-year-old child during the shelling of Grozny in 1999.

A court in Azov has fined Darya Kulikovskaya, a local resident, finding her guilty of discrediting the Russian Armed Forces, after she has replenished her bank card with a banknote bearing a pacifist slogan. Kulikovskaya said she would appeal against the judgement.

Three closed events will be held in Georgia during the "LGBT Week". They will be a test of how authorities are able to protect the rights of sexual minorities and prevent violence; it is focused on the conditions of the European Union (EU) for the country's status as an EU candidate member, analysts have noted.