News

In Azerbaijan, a secretary of court hearings of the Barda District Court is accused of fraud. The Azerbaijan's judicial system needs radical reforms, and some isolated manifestations of the fight against corruption will not solve the problems, analysts say.

By taking part in a protest action in support of Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Said-Mukhammad Djumaev showed the Russian authorities that the Ramzan Kadyrov's ability to control natives of Chechnya was exaggerated, says human rights defender Ruslan Kutaev. An investigation into the Said-Mukhammad Djumaev's case will not be long, and the verdict is unlikely to be mild, lawyers predict.

Nalchik residents Alexander Knyazev and Valery Levdik left a police station with clear signs of beating on their bodies, parents of the victims claim in court. Both young men told their relatives that they had to incriminate themselves by signing a confession to theft.

Having been ahead of other governors with the lifting of the mask regime, Ramzan Kadyrov tries to demonstrate the Russian authorities that Chechnya defeated the coronavirus epidemic earlier than other regions, Caucasus expert Mikhail Roschin and human rights defender Svetlana Gannushkina note.

Law enforcers have detained Zarema Makhmudova, a resident of the Gudermes District, and the theologian, Adam Elzhurkaev, has reprimanded her for providing occult services. The two women who had turned to Makhmudova for help were also publicly scolded.

A landslide has destroyed a road and houses in the village of Bedia du, Tkuarchal District, but the people who have lost their homes receive no help from the authorities, local residents have complained. Authorities have reported the situation to the government of Abkhazia and are waiting for its reaction, the head of the village has explained.

Ali Dzeitov, an Ingush student who has not been deported from Egypt with his three fellow countrymen, reported in his letter about law enforcers' pressure in Egypt. The deported three young people are in hospital; their health condition raises concerns, their relatives have reported. The fate of the fifth student, Khizir Dugiev, remains unknown, Magomed Mutsolgov, a human rights defender, has stated.

Because of bureaucratic delays, not all the forced migrants from Karabakh have received monetary compensations in Armenia. For those who move to Stepanakert, the housing problem remains urgent – due to the deficit of housing facilities, refugees have to settle in offices and shops.

The father of the two young men, suspected of aiding a militant, has left Chechnya out of fears for his life, a source from the "Russian LGBT Network" said, adding that advocates were not allowed to see the detainees despite the prescription of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The human rights organization "Reporters Without Borders" (RWB) has called on the Azerbaijani authorities to provide urgent medical help to Polad Aslanov, who has been on a hunger strike for ten days already and has been kept in custody for 19 months. Polad Aslanov's state of health has received no attention from the Penitentiary Service and the administration of the detention centre, his wife has complained.

Mekhti Ibragimov, a son of Mamed Ibragim, a member of the Presidium of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), got a 1 year and 3 month of suspended sentence on the charge of spreading the coronavirus infection. The father of the sentenced young man associated the case with his own political activities.

Starting from today, in Chechnya, people do not need to wear masks in public places, and restrictions on crossing the border of the region have also been lifted, Ramzan Kadyrov announces.

In Sunzha, the police exercises caused a panic among schoolchildren. Their relatives said they were not aware of the police exercises and perceived everything that was happening as a real threat of a terror act.

After the detention of Igor Nagavkin during a picket, the Prosecutor's Office for the Volgograd Region accepted his complaint against investigators and promised to examine the case before confirming the indictment.

After his visit to Adygea and Kalmykia, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has claimed that the republics remain the regions with the most difficult social and economic situation. The leaders of Adygea and Kalmykia failed to properly use the Russian Prime Minister's visit to solve the "systemic problems" of their republics, political analyst Andrei Reshetov notes.

Today, Igor Nagavkin, an activist, was detained at his solo picket, where he demanded that the prosecutor's office pay attention to his criminal prosecution under a theft case. After his conversation with an investigator, Nagavkin was released and decided to continue his picket.

A film by Andrei Konchalovsky "Dear Comrades!" about the shooting of workers in Novocherkassk is among 15 films shortlisted for the Oscar in the Best Foreign Feature Film nomination.

At night on February 10, several dozen activists came out to a protest action in the Western Georgian city of Zugdidi, demanding from the authorities to lift the curfew imposed earlier due to coronavirus spread.

In Armenia, the reform of the law enforcement system is an attempt to take full control over power structures and can become an instrument for setting up dictatorship, the human rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has appointed 60,000 euros of compensation to each of the following residents of North Ossetia: Rustam Tsurov, Umar Khadziev and Alikhan Ozdoev, who are serving long prison terms on terrorism charges. The ECtHR found a violation of the articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) on the prohibition of torture and the right to a fair trial.