News

In the centre of Yerevan, activists of the movement "Azatagrum" (Liberation) blocked the roadway with garbage cans. They demanded the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan. The police restored traffic down the street and detained seven persons.

The leaders of the Ingush protest, accused together with Zarifa Sautieva of creating an extremist community, called the release of the activist from custody the goal of their hunger strike. Advocate Magomed Abubakarov announced the above and promised to appeal against the return of Zarifa Sautieva to the SIZO (pre-trial prison).

In Batumi, presenters, photographers, cameramen, and musicians held an action in front of the building of the Adjara government. They demanded permission to hold mass events.

Ingush activists accused in a rally case went on a hunger strike and refused to participate in the trial, Bilan Dzugaev reported. The protest action followed the court's decision to return Zarifa Sautieva to custody.

The elimination of the practice of citizens' representation in courts of Azerbaijan has limited people's access to reliable legal support and excluded the lawyers who are not members of the Bar Association from participation in trials, experts from the Institute for Democratic Initiatives (IDI) have noted.

A Stavropol court has overturned the decision on house arrest for Zarifa Sautieva and ordered to transfer her to SIZO (pre-trial prison), her advocate, Magomed Bekov, wrote on the Facebook.

On March 15, the search for the bodies of those who perished during the autumn war in Nagorno-Karabakh was suspended due to unfavourable weather.

During the attack in Nantes on Mukhammed Mirzali, an opposition blogger from Azerbaijan, they to cut off his tongue, Emin Akhmedbekov, a political emigrant, has reported. Mirzali is in grave condition under intensive care. Human rights defenders have accused Azerbaijani authorities of the attack and called on the authorities of France and other European countries to investigate such incidents.

Ilyas Saduev, deported from France to Russia, has been handed over to Chechen law enforcers, said his female relative. In Chechnya, Saduev's life and health are in danger, rights defenders believe.

The criminal prosecution of Aleksander Zolotaryov, deputy chairman of the government of the Stavropol Territory, under the bribery case is another episode in the fight against corruption in Northern Caucasus by the model of cadre cleansings in Dagestan, Anton Chablin, a political analyst, believes.

An entrance to the building, which houses the editorial office of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", which has posted today an eyewitness evidence of the extrajudicial executions in Chechnya, has been poured with a chemical liquid of pungent smell, the newspaper reports. No hazardous substances have been discovered in the building, a source from the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) reports.

The journalistic investigation, during the aerial filming for which two activists were detained in the vicinity of Baku, is focused on the activities of a top-ranking official employed by a state-owned company, which receives construction contracts, blogger Mekhman Guseinov reports.

Today, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" has made public a testimony of Chechen law enforcer Suleiman Gezmakhmaev. According to his story, residents of Chechnya, detained in January 2017, were tortured and forced to incriminate themselves before the extrajudicial killings, and the law enforcer witnessed those events.

Today, a member of the "Prosperous Armenia" Party has stated that the in-force martial law impedes all political processes in the country. However, the parliamentary Committee on Defence, National Security, and Internal Affairs has refused to consider a bill on the abolition of martial law.

Protests of Nikol Pashinyan's opponents in Yerevan and failed meeting of the Prime Minister with opposition leaders; actions and events for the International Women's Day; CTO in Makhachkala; release of Ingush activist Zarifa Sautieva from SIZO; 77th anniversary of the deportation of Balkars; statement of Chechen blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov about the failed attempt on his brother's life, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of March 8-14, 2021, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Mould and fungus on walls, rotten floors and leaking roofs remain a reality in Russian public schools in the 21st century. More than a third of the country's dilapidated school buildings are in Dagestan, as journalists of the "Vazhnye Istorii" (Important Stories) report.

During the week of March 8-14, 2021, in the ongoing armed conflict in Northern Caucasus, at least one person perished; no information about the wounded persons was reported. These are the results of the calculations run by "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Mukhammed Mirzali, who lives in France, was attacked by an unknown man who stabbed him several times.

Ilyas Saduev, deprived of his refugee status by French authorities, was deported to Russia, his relatives said. Authorities of both countries failed to inform Saduev's relatives about his deportation and whereabouts.

Two additional tents will be set up near the parliament building in Yerevan for activists from the regions of Armenia, said the opposition's spokesman. About 150 activists stayed overnight in the tent camp.