News

September 24, 2023 19:39

• Rights defenders assess progress of Orlov's trial

  Oleg Orlov, a co-chairman of the "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence, accused of discrediting the Russian Army, considered it important to add the documents of the UN General Assembly to the case files. Yan Rachinsky is confident that the prosecution's arguments are based only on a poorly conducted expertise.

September 24, 2023 19:10

• Orlov tells court about his work in Northern Caucasus

  Oleg Orlov, accused of discrediting the Russian Army, was questioned in a Moscow court. He explained that human rights defenders are not enemies of the state, but are obliged to criticize it if it violates human rights, recalling his human rights activities in Chechnya and Ingushetia.

September 24, 2023 17:16

• Court in Elista fines activist for failed rally

  The Elista City Court has obliged Tseren Basangov to pay a fine of 10,000 roubles for calling for participation in an unauthorized rally. At the same time, the court has ignored the fact that the rally never took place, Valery Badmaev, a journalist, has noted pointing out that this issue should be considered by the Constitutional Court.

September 23, 2023 18:15

• Chechen Zara Murtazalieva removed from list of terrorists

  Zara Murtazalieva, a native of Chechnya, who has served 8.5 years in a Mordovian colony on charges of terrorism, has been removed from the "Rosfinmonitoring" (Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service) list of terrorists and extremists.

September 23, 2023 18:10

• Father with many children from Rostov Region fails to achieve dismissal from SMO zone

  For three months already, Maxim Krivko, who was mobilized from the Rostov Region, cannot achieve dismissal from military service. Instead, he has been sent to the frontline.

September 22, 2023 23:15

• Rights defenders' opinions included into Oleg Orlov's case files

  At the request of Oleg Orlov's defence, the court has added his characteristics compiled by his colleagues, including those from the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) and Chechnya, to the case materials.

September 22, 2023 22:10

• Volgograd court denies conscript a right to alternative civilian service

  Conscript Yegor Zorin was seeking the right to alternative civilian service in connection with his religious beliefs, but the military registration and enlistment office considered that the young man had failed to prove his beliefs.

September 22, 2023 19:59

• 68-year-old Jehovah’s Witness* from Maikop sentenced to three years of imprisonment

  In Maikop, a court sentenced Nikolai Voischev, a 68-year-old member of the Jehovah’s Witness* religious community, to three years of imprisonment, recognizing him an organizer of the activities of an extremist organization.

September 22, 2023 19:54

• Trial of three Novocherkassk Jehovah’s Witnesses* declared to be held behind closed doors

  In Novocherkassk, a court declared the trial in a case against Jehovah’s Witnesses* Garegin Khachaturyan, Gevorg Yeritsyan, and Lyubov Galitsyna, accused of extremism, to be held behind closed doors. The period of their detention in custody has been extended by six months.

September 21, 2023 18:17

• Judge's dissenting opinion encourages Gadjiev's relatives

  The dissenting opinion issued by Judge Rizvan Zubairov, in which he criticized the sentence passed to the "Chernovik" journalist Abdulmumin Gadjiev, Abubakar Rizvanov, the head of the "Ansar" Fund, and Kemal Tambiev, an activist, may become the basis for their acquittal.

September 21, 2023 18:02

• Kuban resident fined for his post in social network

  The Khosta District Court of the Krasnodar Territory (also known as Kuban by the name of the main river) has fined Evgeny Salnikov by 2000 roubles for his post placed in the "VKontakte" social network about a Ukrainian organization banned in Russia.

September 21, 2023 13:45

• Kadyrov explains his visit to Moscow hospital as a visit to his uncle

  Ramzan Kadyrov has released a video of his visit to a Moscow hospital. The leader of Chechnya has explained that his uncle is being treated there, while he himself “is alive and healthy.”

September 20, 2023 23:15

• Nalchik resident convicted of discrediting Russian Army

  Batyr Zhaboev from Nalchik, charged under the criminal article on discrediting the Russian Army after his posts in a social network, has been sentenced to a year of conditional imprisonment.

September 20, 2023 18:13

• Rights defenders recognize Yasin Khalidov as political prisoner

  The "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence has announced Yasin Khalidov, a former Chechen policeman and OMON (riot police) fighter, to be a political prisoner.

September 20, 2023 14:05

• Analysts list candidates for power in Chechnya without Kadyrov

  The Kremlin will find a replacement for Ramzan Kadyrov as the leader of Chechnya, human rights defender Oyub Titiev believes. The redistribution of power may lead to a conflict between the groups headed by Adam Delimkhanov, Magomed Daudov, and Abuzaid Vismuradov, suggests Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations.

September 19, 2023 20:51

• Rights treat sentence of pregnant servicewoman KBR as unique

  The verdict to Madina Kabaloeva for evading service is the first of its kind in Russia, but this is not a systematic approach, but a performers' excessive action, Valentina Melnikova, the head of the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers, believes.

September 19, 2023 18:11

• Father of soldiers who perished in Ukraine complains to Putin about Melikov

  Dagestani authorities would not react to residents' requests to move the construction of the landfill from the Sarykum Dune; and it is impossible to get an appointment with Sergey Melikov about this. The father of two sons who perished in the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine has stated this in a video appeal addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

September 18, 2023 23:17

• Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of September 11-17, 2023

  Verdict in Rostov-on-Don, persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, elections in Russia, blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, Zarema Musaeva’s case, and official data on the natives of Southern Russia who perished in Ukraine, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of September 11-17, 2023, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

September 18, 2023 20:35

• ECtHR’s decision highlights problems with safety of shelters

  The decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on a complaint filed by Svetlana Anokhina and Maisarat Kilyaskhanova, against whom law enforcers used force in a shelter, should remind the authorities of Russia that the problem of the safety of shelters, especially in Northern Caucasus, has not been resolved, believe members of NGOs.

September 18, 2023 18:45

• Dagestani villagers call on Putin to intervene in their land conflict with authorities

  Residents of the village of Mutsalaul, Khasavyurt District, who had asked to be allocated the land plots due to them by the law, refused refusals, while authorities drew up a new general plan, in which land was allocated only for social facilities.