News

December 09, 2022 14:53

• Defenders of Lake Ak-Gyol point to builders' absence of permit to construct the temple

  The construction of the temple near Lake Ak-Gyol has been actually launched, but no building permit had been issued, activists of the "City Is Ours" movement have stated. The Diocese has not yet applied for a building permit, the Makhachkala Mayoralty has confirmed.

December 09, 2022 14:50

• Chechen activists doubt links of blogger Tumso's disappearance with presentation of his party

  The establishment by Tumso Abdurakhmanov of his party could not significantly increase the threat to his security, since he had long been declared as Kadyrov's enemy, moreover that the new political force had no time to manifest itself.

December 08, 2022 16:57

• Rights defenders support renaming of two streets in Nalchik

  The activists' demands to rename the Nalchik streets named in honour of Soviet generals Zakharov and Kozlov are reasonable, Valery Khatazhukov and Zaur Shokuev, activists of the human rights centre of Kabardino-Balkaria, have pointed out.

December 08, 2022 16:55

• Case of believer from Cherkessk sent for reconsideration

  A court in Pyatigorsk has overturned the verdict to Elena Menchikova, a resident of the city of Cherkessk, who was sentenced to five years of conditional imprisonment on charges of participation in an extremist organization, and sent the case for a new trial at the first-instance court.

December 07, 2022 23:58

• Chechen contract soldier from Chechnya loses case on dismissal for refusing to go to Ukraine

  In Grozny, the garrison military court refused to reinstate contract soldier Magomed Elemkhanov, who was dismissed after he failed to comply with the order to leave “for a trip to perform service and combat missions.”

December 07, 2022 23:55

• Ingush lawyer describes specific features of mobilization in Northern Caucasus

  The religious factor has become a distinctive feature of mobilization in Northern Caucasus. In fact, the participation of religious figures in recruiting and the practice of putting pressure on relatives excluded the option of alternative service for residents of Chechnya, while in Ingushetia, it is possible against the background of a different position of religious leaders on the special military operation, the lawyer says.

December 07, 2022 23:52

• Human rights defenders associate silence of Tumso’s relatives with Chechen traditions and realities

  When commenting on the silence of Tumso Abdurakhmanov’s relatives after the version of his murder had appeared, human rights defenders Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya and Caucasian expert Ruslan Kutaev have pointed out that according to the local traditions, no mourning events for a deceased person are held in Chechnya if the body of the deceased is not delivered home.

December 07, 2022 23:45

• Social network users support protest against development of park near Lake Ak-Gyol in Dagestan

  Dagestani authorities have ignored townspeople's statements in defence of the park area near Lake Ak-Gyol; activists have stated in connection with the laying of a stone at the construction site of the temple in the park. Instagram* users have supported the call to build the temple elsewhere.

December 07, 2022 23:43

• Parents complain about systemic torture at Vladikavkaz kindergarten

  Children have returned more than once from a private kindergarten in Vladikavkaz with bruises and abrasions; they wouldn't go there, but only after watching video records, the fact of beating children up there became known for certain, parents have stated.

December 07, 2022 22:09

• Rights defender Cherkasov treats threat to Chechen political emigrants in Europe as systemic

  It is impossible to comment on the rumours about the murder of the Chechen oppositional blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, without relying on confirmed information, but Chechen political emigrants have been killed in Europe for more than a decade; however, European authorities fail to perceive the threat to their lives as systemic. This was stated by Alexander Cherkasov, a board member of the "Memorial" Centre for Defence of Human Rights*.

December 07, 2022 22:00

• Human rights defenders lose contact with close relatives of Tumso and Mokhamad Abdurakhmanov

  The law enforcement agencies of Germany do not comment on the whereabouts of Mokhamad, a brother of Tumso Abdurakhmanov, Deutsche Welle* reports. There is also no contact with the Abdurakhmanov brothers’ closest relatives, the ‘Vayfond” human rights association reports.

December 07, 2022 12:33

• Law enforcers release Adler resident detained for pacifist sticker

  Policemen have detained a resident of Adler because of a pacifist sticker on his car; they demanded to remove the sticker and released him without drawing up a protocol.

December 07, 2022 12:30

• Chechen authorities greet with silence reports about possible death of blogger Tumso

  The authorities of Chechnya and the media do not comment on the possible death of Tumso Abdurakhmanov, although the assassination attempt on him two years ago caused a flurry of comments from propagandists. Lawyer Abubakar Yangulbaev suggests that Tumso Abdurakhmanov is under the protection of the Swedish authorities.

December 06, 2022 17:44

• Disappearance of Chechen blogger Tumso gives rise to versions about special services' operations

  Anzor Maskhadov, who has announced the death of the blogger, is not sure of the reliability of his sources; and Shamil Albakov, a member of the Assembly of European Chechens, hopes that an operation conducted by Swedish special services is behind the Tumso's disappearance.

December 06, 2022 17:38

• Chairman of Ingush Council of Teips steps down

  Murad Daskiev, who headed the Council of Teips (family clans) of Ingushetia after the arrest of Malsag Uzhakhov, has announced his resignation.

December 06, 2022 16:36

• Week in the Caucasus: review of main events on November 28-December 4, 2022

  Reports on the murder of a Chechen blogger; change of power in Makhachkala; sentence to Magomedov brothers and their partners; Leyla Gireeva's statements about domestic violence; and official data on the natives of Southern Russia who perished in Ukraine, – read about these events in the review of the developments in the Caucasus prepared by the "Caucasian Knot" for the week from November 28 to December 4, 2022.

December 06, 2022 16:30

• Appellate instance upholds compulsory treatment for author of graffiti about Putin in Rostov-on-Don

  The court of appeal has reduced by a month the term of freedom restriction of Mikhail Selitsky, a resident of Rostov-on-Don, under the case of vandalism motivated by political hostility, but upheld his compulsory psychiatric treatment.

December 06, 2022 16:25

• Police ignore ultimatum on return of books and equipment to Dagestani historian Donogo

  The equipment and information carriers confiscated during the search were promised to be returned only after their examination, but no terms of return were mentioned, Khadji-Murad Donogo said after the expiration of the activists’ ultimatum to the law enforcement bodies.

December 06, 2022 15:13

• Silence of Chechen blogger Tumso’s relatives raises doubts about his death

  Information about the murder of Chechen blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov was not confirmed by either relatives or the authorities of Sweden, note journalist Mairbek Vachagaev, lawyer Abubakar Yangulbaev, and Ingush journalist Isabella Evloeva.

December 06, 2022 15:00

• In Makhachkala, picket held by journalist Gadjiev’s colleague attracts attention of police and passers-by

  Magomed Magomedov, the deputy editor-in-chief of the Dagestani weekly newspaper “Chernovik” (Rough Draft), held a solo picket in Makhachkala in support of his colleague Abdulmumin Gadjiev.