News

Large-scale protests will start in Tbilisi should authorities ignore the demands of the opponents to the construction of the Namakhvan hydroelectric power plant (HPP), the participants in the rally held in Kutaisi on March 14 have warned.

Protesters have blocked the gates of the presidential residence and confronted the police. Activists failed to prevent Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian Prime Minister, from leaving after his meeting with President Armen Sargsyan.

A Russian citizen was taken into labour slavery and died after severe beatings, the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Georgia has stated. The owner of the farm is in custody.

Law enforcers are seeking to return Zarifa Sautieva to SIZO (pre-trial prison) by exerting pressure on the owner of the apartment where the she is kept under house arrest, her advocate, Magomed Bekov, has informed.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) has urged Azerbaijani authorities to immediately enforce the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the "Ilgar Mamedov Group" – to cancel the current and remove earlier convictions.

The introduction of the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime in Makhachkala, despite the fact that the casualty was seriously ill, was justified, analysts believe. However, it could have been avoided if law enforcers could foresee that this man is able of committing crimes again.

A complaint against the verdict to Martin Kochesoko, a Circassian activist, convicted for drug possession, has been lodged to the Supreme Court (SC) of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), his advocated has informed.

The format of the meeting of Nikol Pashinyan, the Premier with oppositional leaders offered by President Armen Sargsyan to discuss ways out of the crisis turned out to be unrealizable. The "Prosperous Armenia" parliamentary faction and the "For Fatherland's Salvation" movement have evaded the set agenda, proposing their own one, the office of the head of state has informed.

The format of protests in Armenia is no threat to the Armenian authorities – the opposition is weakened by internal contradictions and is unable to offer any constructive ideas for overcoming the crisis. If Nikol Pashinyan's opponents fail to change this format, protests will fade away by themselves, analysts believe.

The decision of the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya, which upheld the verdict to Malika Djikaeva, an Instagram blogger from North Ossetia, has come into force – she has been sent to a colony. The family will appeal against this decision.

Despite the deteriorating weather conditions, more than 100 opposition supporters remain in a round-the-clock camp in front of the Armenian parliament and continue to block the entrances and exits of the building. The protesters announced that they would leave the territory only after the resignation of the Armenian Prime Minister.

When they participated in the filming, Beka Kurdanov and Darina Taova, musicians from Nalchik, did not know that the film of the "Editors" project would be devoted to the situation with the women's rights in Northern Caucasus.

Armenian President Armen Sarkisyan seeks to avoid confrontation with Nikol Pashinyan amid the scandalous change in the administration of the General Headquarters of the Armenia's Armed Forces. The President of Armenia also wants to maintain neutrality in the confrontation between the Prime Minister and the opposition, political analysts suggest.

Turkmen blogger Rozgeldy Choliev will not be sent home. The Russian Migration Service accepted his application and informed the man that he had been granted temporary asylum for three months. However, Rozgeldy Choliev, who planned to join his family in Cherkessk, still stays in the neutral zone of the Sheremetyevo airport, human rights activists report.

When deciding to evict Khamid Indreev, a resident of the village of Nartan, and his family from the house, a court in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) misinterpreted the housing legislation, the cassation court has ruled. The advocate has expressed hope that the case will be reconsidered in Indreev's favour.

About 1 billion roubles from the state budget have been spent for guarding Ramzan Kadyrov and his family members over the past five years, the Open Media writes, citing the data from the portal of state purchases.

A court in Austria has sentenced five natives of Chechnya who persecuted women for what they thought was inappropriate behaviour.

The village of Mkhitarashen is surrounded by Azerbaijani militaries on three sides, and needs protection of peacemakers, who are not there yet, said Mkhitar Arustamyan, the head of the community. As a result of the war, the village lost its agricultural lands; and now people live only on social benefits, villagers have complained.

The problem of domestic violence in Northern Caucasus is acute, including in connection with the growth of religiosity, said Saida Sirazhudinova, the president of the "Caucasus. Peace. Development" Centre. It is necessary to talk about the violation of women's rights taking into account the cultural specifics of the region, says Olga Pavlova, an Islamologist.

In Yerevan, the protesters demanding the resignation of Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, continue blocking the entrances and exits of the building of the Armenian Parliament, despite the bad weather. They plan to block the auxiliary entrance to the parliament behind the police cordon.