News

Today, the press service for the Russian FSB has reported about the detention of members of the international terrorist organization "Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami"* in 10 regions of Russia, including Dagestan and the Krasnodar Territory. According to a source from the law enforcement bodies, one member of the "Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami"*, a native of Uzbekistan, was detained in Dagestan.

After the resignation of Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakhariya, the execution of the court's decision about the arrest of oppositionist Nika Meliya has been postponed for some time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia reports. Supporters of Giorgi Gakhariya explained his resignation by disagreements and called his leaving unexpected.

Today, Sergey Smirnov, the editor-in-chief of the "Mediazona", has left the special detention centre in Sakharovo in Moscow, after 15 days of administrative arrest under the case of calling people to participate in a rally for Alexei Navalny.

In the report broadcast by the "Grozny" ChGTRK (Chechen State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company), Zina Dolueva, a resident of Grozny, promised to stop carrying out witchcraft rituals. The woman who had ordered the ritual was also publicly scolded by Adam Elzhurkaev, a theologian.

A bill on the recognition of the Russian language as an official language along with the Armenian one has been brought into the parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh. The issue of the second official language in the unrecognized republic became especially acute after the 2020 autumn war of, Aram Arutyunyan, an MP, has explained.

Tatiana Moskalkova, the Russian ombudsperson, has failed to react to the investigation conducted by the "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper into the replacement of Chechen residents from the so-called "execution list" by their brothers so as not to confront Ramzan Kadyrov, says Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the "Civil Assistance"* Committee.

The video, in which a police officer scolds two young men from the Achkhoi-Martan District for supporting online publications criticizing Chechen authorities, has sparked outrage among Instagram users. One of the young men had been slandered, one of the commentators has stated.

The accusations against Magomed Khamkhoev, a participant in the rally in Magas, were untenable; and the court verdict that sent him to colony was unfair and harsh, his relative and advocate have stated.

The authorities of Azerbaijan need political prisoners as a frightening factor to maintain the stability of the government, so a pardoning requested by human rights defendants from the Azerbaijani president is unlikely to affect many political prisoners. This opinion was voiced by analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

Konstantin Samsonov, Alexander Akopov, and Shamil Sultanov, accused in a case against the Jehovah's Witnesses*, are at large. However, the defendants are not able to return to their workplaces and are experiencing difficulties with medical assistance because of the restrictions imposed on them by the court, advocate Denis Vladimirov reports.

After an arrest of a law enforcer suspected of possessing drugs, mass searches were conducted in the Dagestani village of Tarki. Local residents associate the searches with the revenge of relatives of the arrested law enforcer against the opponents of drug addiction, the "Mediazona" reports today.

The authorities collected the garbage left by a resident of Chechnya in the forest and transported it to his house, while the villager himself publicly apologized for his act. Some Instagram users have criticized officials for the above actions.

In Chiatura, policemen detained two men suspected of attacking a journalist and a TV channel operator who prepared a report from the village of Shukruti, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has reported.

In four regions of southern Russia, a total of 19 people have been detained who had planned terror acts in Northern Caucasus; extremist materials, weapons and ammunition have been seized from them, the Russian FSB (Federal Security Bureau) has reported today.

On February 16, the Nagorno-Karabakh's Ministry of Defence (MoD) released a new list of servicemen who perished in the hostilities during the last autumn escalation of the conflict. The list includes 132 names of militaries, the "News.am" has reported.

The Teberda Nature Reserve in the Karachai-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) is being transformed into a national park. It is unknown how the reserve's lands will be used after the status change, social activists and ecologists assert.

The correspondence in social networks and telephone messages presented at the Essentuki City Court have nothing to do with the leaders of the protest action in Magas, while the many hours of announcements of materials at the trial only protract the process, the advocates have stated.

The Azerbaijani party has handed the bodies of 106 people killed in the conflict zone over to the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh, the president of the unrecognized republic has informed.

In Northern Caucasus, women are forced into the role of a sort of "children-producing bag"; and the act of a Dagestani woman who invented a story about the death of her twins during childbirth could have been the result of psychological pressure, Saida Sirazhudinova, the head of the "Caucasus. Peace. Development" Centre, said in an interview with the "Lenta".

The Baku Court of Appeal upheld the verdict to Mukhammad Imanly, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), sentenced to imprisonment on the charge of spreading COVID-19. The defence will file a cassation appeal and has already addressed the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) with a complaint about the pre-trial arrest of Mukhammad Imanly, advocate Asabali Mustafaev said.