News

The health state of Azerbaijani journalist Polad Aslanov has deteriorated after his 20-day hunger strike, but he is not receiving medical assistance, his spouse states.

Zarema Musaeva does not participate in the investigating proceedings because of her poor health state, and there is no medical unit in the special detention centre where she is being kept, her son Abubakar Yangulbaev says. Human rights defenders applied to the court with the demand to release Zarema Musaeva from arrest because of her poor health, the “Committee Against Torture”* reports.

When commenting on an apology of a young woman from Grozny for her words about men, Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the “Civic Assistance” Committee*, points out that public apologies have become a kind of game and got out of control of the authorities.

When commenting on the accusation of Azerbaijan in a shelling attack, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Armenia declared that “indiscriminate” fire near the border with the Tovuz District came from the Azerbaijani side, and the Armenian military forces did not react to it.

An advocate has met Adam Khamchiev, an Ingush blogger, who was detained in Nazran. The "Civil Initiative" has explained his persecution by the fact that his activities in defence of resident's rights "had caused noticeable irritation" among local bureaucrats.

Ramzan Kadyrov has included the Yangulbaevs into the list of his enemies after Ibragim Yangublaev was detained for creating the public VKontakte and exposed to torture. Ibragim was tortured, among other places, in Kadyrov's residence, where the head of Chechnya declared a blood feud against him, the "Novaya Gazeta" writes.

Zarema Musaeva's statement about her refusal from advocate's services was shown to the lawyers who had sought a meeting with her. Musaeva was under pressure, the "Committee against Torture" (CaT)* and her son Abubakar Yangulbaev are sure.

The US Department of State called for the release of all those unjustly detained in Chechnya, in particular, Zarema Musaeva, and demanded from Ramzan Kadyrov to stop persecuting opponents’ relatives. Ramzan Kadyrov replies that it is not in the competence of the leader of the region to detain and release people.

Chechen Ombudsperson Mansur Soltaev posted on the Internet a video report about his visit to Zarema Musaeva kept in a special detention centre. The Ombudsperson emphasizes that the woman is under medical supervision and provided with medicines she needs.

The Armenian armed forces shelled the positions of the Azerbaijani army near the border with the Tovuz District, and there are no losses from the Azerbaijani side, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan reports.

The CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) Treaty does not assume any dispatch of Armenian soldiers to help Russia in the event of its conflict with Ukraine; moreover, Armenia's attention is now focused on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Armenian political analysts have pointed out.

Law enforcers would not let the defence to visit the mother of Abubakar Yangulbaev, a lawyer of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT)*; they present false information about her whereabouts, while the court ignores requests for the provision of case materials, Alexander Nemov, an advocate, has informed.

By voicing out the data on the federal financing of Chechnya, its leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has correctly indicated only the volume of inter-budgetary transfers, Natalia Zubarevich, an economist, has explained.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has expressed its concern about the legal insecurity and harassment of people of non-traditional sexual orientation in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Forced migrants have held a rally in Yerevan, demanding from the Armenian authorities to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state and grant them the refugee status.

Law enforcers have kidnapped Adam Khamchiev, a blogger and a member of the "Civil Initiative" Party, from his flat in the city of Magas, his fellow party members have reported.

Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, has sent a letter to the Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliev, urging him not to sign the law "On Media" recently adopted by the parliament and return it for revision. According to Ms Mijatović, the new law is contrary to the principles of the freedom and independence of the media.

A video with insults against men who failed to help girls in Grozny in carrying heavy boxes sparked a negative reaction of Instagram users. Soon the author of the video has apologized, saying that she had received threats.

Threats and blackmail were an attempt to force blogger Khasan Khalitov to stop criticizing the Chechen authorities, since the goal was not achieved through the kidnapping of his relatives, human rights defenders explained. They suggested that officials from the Chechen authorities were involved in the kidnappings and blackmail of the Ramzan Kadyrov’s opponents.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on the protection of the rights of LGBT people in Europe, with the focus on persecution based on sexual orientation in Chechnya. The PACE requested the authorities of Russia to protect the victims and punish the perpetrators.