News

August 31, 2021 22:09

• Polad Aslanov’s brother released after five days of arrest

  Niyameddin Aslanzade has served the administrative arrest imposed on him after a complaint from the Ombudsman Office and intends to appeal against the court’s decision.

August 31, 2021 21:47

• Supreme Court upholds verdict to Giorgi Guev

  Today, the cassation court has dismissed an appeal against the verdict to Giorgi Guev, a resident of North Ossetia, who was sentenced to six years of imprisonment on the charge of financing terrorism.

August 31, 2021 19:06

• Baku court refuses to consider activist’s claim against President of Azerbaijan

  When explaining his refusal to accept the claim of Bakhtiyar Gadjiev, the head of the NGO “Positive Changes” and the director of the “Human Capital Consulting” LLC, a judge has referred to the fact that the President of Azerbaijan, due to discrepancies in the claim itself, cannot act as a defendant. The activist has appealed to court again.

August 31, 2021 18:47

• ECtHR finds investigation into Estemirova’s assassination ineffective

  Today, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has noted that the Russian authorities provided it with an incomplete copy of the case file on the murder of human rights defender Natalia Estemirova, but there is reason to doubt the effectiveness of the investigation into the case on the murder. The ECtHR requested Russia to find and punish the persons guilty of the murder.

August 31, 2021 14:07

• Caucasian experts exclude any influence of crime growth in Chechnya on election outcomes

  In Chechnya, the crime rate indicators are beneficial for law enforcers to demonstrate their work, but they will not affect the outcome of the presidential election, as this outcome is predefined, the analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have suggested.

August 31, 2021 13:37

• Azerbaijan counts 3890 missing persons since start of Karabakh conflict

  Since the beginning of the Karabakh conflict, a total of 3890 residents of Azerbaijan, including 719 civilians, have gone missing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has informed.

August 31, 2021 11:08

• COVID-19 spread in Georgian jails raises large-scale amnesty issue

  Sofo Djaparidze, a member of the "United National Movement" (UNM) Party, has called on the authorities to amnesty those convicted of petty crimes in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 in prisons.

August 31, 2021 10:47

• Authorities report on progress in post-war reconstruction works in Nagorno-Karabakh

  In Stepanakert, almost 900 buildings damaged by shelling during the autumn war have been repaired; works are also underway in the Askeran, Martakert and Martuni Districts, the Ministry of Urban Development of Nagorno-Karabakh has informed.

August 31, 2021 08:45

• Estemirova's colleagues assess prospects for inquiry into her murder after ECtHR's verdict

  The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will demand from Russia to investigate the murder of the human rights defender, Natalia Estemirova, committed in Chechnya, but Russian authorities will take no concrete steps for this, the rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

August 31, 2021 08:27

• Colleagues of comedian Mirzalizade condemn his ban to enter Russia

  A State Duma MP has treated the ban imposed on Idrak Mirzalizade to visit Russia for a joke as excessive; and the comedian's colleagues treat the pressure on him as a new level of repressions in Russia.

August 30, 2021 21:59

• Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of August 23-29, 2021

  Damage and casualties as a result of heavy rains in Dagestan; detention of Pankisi Gorge residents during a special operation; adoption of the Armenian government’s programme amid the boycott of the opposition, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of August 23-29, 2021, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

August 30, 2021 21:46

• Journalists treat Gadjiev’s case a local episode of all-Russian trend

  Today, in Makhachkala, journalist Idris Yusupov and Magdi Kamalov, a founder of the newspaper "Chernovik" (Draft), have held solo pickets with the demand to release Abdulmumin Gadjiev. Cases of pressure on the media and criminal prosecution of journalists have become a “federal trend,” emphasizes Magomed Magomedov, the deputy editor-in-chief of the “Chernovik”.

August 30, 2021 21:31

• Sergey Lavrov calls criticism of Stalin’s personality a threat to Russia

  At a meeting with war veterans in Volgograd, Sergey Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that attempts to portray Joseph Stalin as the main villain of his era are aimed at weakening Russia politically.

August 30, 2021 21:13

• Djumaev’s defence files an appeal amid softer sentences in “January case”

  Today, the defence has challenged the verdict to Said-Mukhammad Djumaev, who was sentenced to five years of imprisonment for a fight with law enforcers. The verdict became the toughest since the January protests in support of oppositionist Alexei Navalny in Moscow.

August 30, 2021 18:51

• Details of kidnappings of Chechen residents made public on Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances

  Relatives of three young people kidnapped in Chechnya during the second Chechen military campaign claim they are still not aware of their fate. According to various sources, from 4000 to 7700 people are listed as missing in the republic, reports the “Legal Initiative”* in its material, timed to coincide with the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance.

August 30, 2021 18:33

• MIA imposes life ban on comic Mirzalizade on entering Russia

  Idrak Mirzalizade, an ethnic Talysh, who served ten days of administrative arrest for a joke about xenophobia, has been recognized as an undesirable person in Russia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Russian Federation reports today.

August 30, 2021 14:32

• On August 23-29, 2021, no one fell victim to armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

  During the week of August 23-29, 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.

August 30, 2021 14:08

• Azerbaijan rejects allegations of burning pastures at Armenian border

  The information of the Armenian Ombudsman claiming that Azerbaijani soldiers deliberately set fire to pastures near the villages of Sotk and Kut in the Gegarkunik District does not correspond to reality, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan reported.

August 30, 2021 11:25

• Film directed by a Georgian wins prize at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival

  The "Fedeora Award" of the European film critics at the 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival was awarded to the film "The Otar's Death" by the Georgian film director Soso Bliadze.

August 30, 2021 11:09

• Volgograd activists demand to abolish law on foreign media agents

  On August 29, in Heroes' Alley in central Volgograd, four activists held solo pickets criticizing the law on foreign agents. The inclusion of independent and opposition media into the list of foreign agents dooms readers to receive information only from pro-government media, the picketers assert, calling for the cancellation of the law on foreign media agents.