News

Paata Burchuladze, an opera singer, has gone on a hunger strike demanding to transfer Mikhail Saakashvili, a former Georgian president, to a civilian clinic.

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) has called on Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release Salekh Rustamov, an activist who is on a long hunger strike from jail.

Two Azerbaijani militaries were wounded in a shootout after an attempt of Armenian soldiers to capture the heights in the Kelbadjar and Lachin Districts, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has informed.

In Tbilisi, Saakashvili's supporters have held a protest action despite the police warnings. According to organizers, the action was over 5000 strong. They criticized the Patriarch and president of Georgia, who, in their opinion, disregard the situation with the disgraced former president.

Tensions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and in Nagorno-Karabakh are growing, which threatens the resumption of hostilities, three non-parliamentary parties have stated in their open letter addressed to the Armenian government. They called on the authorities to immediately contact the UN Security Council with a request to intervene in the situation.

Law enforcers have set Magomed Magomedov, a deputy editor-in-chief of the "Chernovik" (Draft) weekly, free after three hours of questioning about the picket in support of the journalist Abdulmumin Gadjiev. Magomedov said he would file a complaint against law enforcers.

Ramzan Kadyrov's words that he can take away the lands from Ingushetia that had passed to this republic under Djokhar Dudaev are backed up by the Kremlin, Ingush commentators in social networks believe. Many of them have treated the statement of the head of Chechnya as populism.

The health state of Russian citizen Salekh Rustamov, who has been on hunger strike for the tenth day in an Azerbaijani prison hospital, is close to critical, his advocate claims. Relatives convinced Salekh Rustamov not to stop drinking water, as he is extremely exhausted.

During the week of November 8-14, 2021, no killed or wounded in the ongoing armed conflict in Northern Caucasus were reported. These are the results of the calculations run by the “Caucasian Knot” based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

According to a petition signed by 65 members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the activities of the “Memorial”* to preserve the memory of victims of repression is superior to the results of public research institutions and the liquidation of the “Memorial”* cannot be allowed. A similar petition was signed by over 100 artists, politicians, and human rights defenders.

The search for the bodies of those killed in the territories that came under the control of Azerbaijan after the war has not been carried out since October 18, the State Emergency Service of Nagorno-Karabakh reports.

While explaining the refusal to bring Mikhail Saakashvili to a Tbilisi court, the penitentiary service claimed that the presence of the politician at the trial in his case would create additional risks to his health.

Law enforcers did not let colleagues of journalist Abdulmumin Gadjiev hold a picket and took Magomed Magomedov, the deputy editor-in-chief of the weekly “Chernovik” (Rough Draft), to the Makhachkala police department. This was reported by journalist Idris Yusupov.

A Baku court has found Agil Gumbatov, a member of the oppositional Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), guilty of hooliganism and sentenced him to 10 years of freedom deprivation.

Natives of Chechnya and a citizen of Ukraine have organized illegal transportation of migrants from Middle East to Germany via Poland, the Polish Prosecutor's Office (PO) has informed.

The protest against the works of strengthening the Chechen bank of the Fortanga River was organized in Ingushetia by "a handful of provocateurs," Ramzan Kadyrov has stated. In their turn, his critics believe that Chechen authorities should have warned the Ingush party of the planned works in order to avoid unrests in the neighbouring republic.

The authors of the petition call on the civil society to unite in defence of the "International Memorial"* and the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* and prevent the closure of these organizations. Facebook users have responded to the call to support human rights defenders and publish their posts with the hashtag #WeMemorial.

An Azerbaijani customs post has been set up on the Kapan-Chakaten road. Residents of six villages of the Syunik Region must cross the border or take a 150-kilometre-long detour. Villagers may face problems with movement and buying foodstuffs, said the head of the Chakaten community. Azerbaijani militaries' actions have violated villagers' rights, the Armenian Ombudsperson has stated.

The "Sirtskhvili" (means "It's Shame") movement has held a rally near the Georgian parliament building with a demand to transfer Mikhail Saakashvili to a civil clinic and hold early elections.

Publication of video evidence of violence and torture against natives of the Caucasus in the Saratov prison hospital; anniversary of the end of the “autumn war” in Nagorno-Karabakh and new armed incidents in the conflict zone; protests by Saakashvili’s supporters in Georgia; debate at the trial against leaders of the Ingush protest; conflict at the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia provoked by the changed channel of the Fortanga River, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of November 8-14, 2021, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.