News

January 27, 2024 19:12

• Mother of convicted activist Polyudova receives her daughter’s first letter within six months

  Relatives of Krasnodar activist Daria Polyudova received her first letter within six months from the penal colony, in which the activist is serving her sentence in a case on extremism and justification of terrorism. Daria is still being kept in strict detention conditions, her mother reports.

January 27, 2024 17:48

• Dagestani authorities get interested in case of labour slavery

  The head of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has ordered to conduct a check after a video appeared in social networks about the release of a Belarusian resident from labour slavery near the city of Kaspiysk.

January 27, 2024 06:35

• Report of Chechnya's Muftiate on families' reunification sparks local residents' scepticism

  The data on the reunification of 6000 families, announced by the Muftiate of Chechnya, looks inflated; and the clergy's role in this process is exaggerated, local residents believe.

January 26, 2024 22:53

• State Duma adopts Kadyrov's amendments to law on extremist materials

  The Russian State Duma MPs have approved the amendments to the law on countering extremism, suggested by the Chechen Parliament at Ramzan Kadyrov's initiative. The bill, the alleged aim thereof is to protect religious literature from unjustified bans, was adopted despite the initial critical conclusion of the State Duma legal department.

January 26, 2024 21:15

• Activists link low number of signatures for presidential candidate Nadezhdin in Northern Caucasus with fear of persecution

  Law enforcers have summoned the head of Boris Nadezhdin's electoral office in Ingushetia for a conversation; the signature collectors from Dagestan and the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) have stated that there was no pressure on them.

January 26, 2024 18:49

• Policemen from Chechnya forcibly sent to SMO zone, human rights defenders believe

  Employees of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) sent to the special military operation zone in a combined military detachment have hardly left for Ukraine by their own will, but their refusal could lead to persecution of them and their relatives, human rights defenders believe.

January 26, 2024 16:47

• Marina Yandieva leaves Russia after fleeing domestic violence in Ingushetia

  Marina Yandieva, a native of Ingushetia, who fled domestic violence, is safe outside Russia, human rights defenders report.

January 26, 2024 14:21

• In Krasnodar and Volgograd, supporters of presidential candidate Nadezhdin face law enforcers' opposition

  In Krasnodar, a signature collector for the presidential candidate, Boris Nadezhdin, has spent several hours in police custody. In Volgograd, a café director called the police when several activists came to his café to have lunch.

January 25, 2024 23:38

• Masked men intimidate family of "Caucasian Knot" journalist

  Unknown persons in masks, introducing themselves as "veterans", tried to break down the door to the apartment of Vyacheslav Yaschenko, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, after which they turned off electricity on the entire house floor. When they arrived, only the journalist's wife was at home; and she called the police.

January 25, 2024 22:17

• Melikov angered by critical report on federal TV channel about Dagestani school

  Sergey Melikov, the leader of Dagestan, has claimed that the report of a Dagestani journalist about a dilapidated school building in the village of Shinaz, released on the federal TV channel, is biased. The leader of the republic has emphasized that he has been monitoring the situation with the school for two years already.

January 25, 2024 21:14

• Court in Cherkessk refuses to sentence Jehovah's Witnesses* to real prison term

  By the outcomes of cassation and retrial of her case by the first-instance court, Elena Menchikova, a Jehovah's Witness* from the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), was sentenced to 4.5 years of (conditional imprisonment (probation), contrary to the prosecutor's demand for five years of real imprisonment.

January 25, 2024 17:31

• Kizilyurt resident with many children sentenced to suspended imprisonment for connections with militants

  In Kizilyurt, a court found local resident Zulfiya Dengalova guilty of participating in an illegal armed formation (IAF) in Syria. Taking into account her repentance and the fact that the woman is raising four children alone, the court sentenced her to suspended imprisonment for five years.

January 25, 2024 15:25

• SIZO bosses reject Melikhova's statement about custody conditions

  The administration of the Armavir SIZO (pre-trial prison) has denied the problem with heating in the cells, which Marina Melikhova complained about, her defence has reported.

January 24, 2024 23:58

• Rights defenders recognize Irina Skorovarova as political prisoner

  For her pacifist position, Irina Skorovarova, a resident of the city of Taganrog, is accused of discrediting the Russian Army, the human rights project "Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial" has informed demanding to stop her criminal case.

January 24, 2024 22:19

• State Duma MP apologizes after Kadyrov's anger

  Ramzan Kadyrov has proposed to "kick out" Mikhail Matveev, an MP, from the State Duma after his statement that authorities were bending "before the Islamic factor," and warned about the threat of intra-Russian conflicts with Muslims. After this, the above MP recorded a video with an apology, explaining that he had meant supporters of the radical Islam and the "shaitans" already defeated in Chechnya.

January 24, 2024 19:59

• Court fines Volgograd pensioner again for discrediting Russian Army

  For the second time this year, Natalia Dorozhnova, a pensioner and a Volgograd activist, has been found guilty of discrediting the Russian Army. The court has obliged her to pay a fine of 30,000 roubles.

January 24, 2024 18:18

• Prosecutor demands five years in colony for believer from Cherkessk

  Following the retrial of her case by the court, Elena Menchikova, a Jehovah's Witness*, should be sentenced to five years in penal colony, the prosecutor has demanded. The woman has rejected the accusations of extremism and called on the court to be impartial, the human rights project "OVD-Info"** has informed.

January 24, 2024 16:13

• Journalist Idris Yusupov* claims attempted provocation at picket in Makhachkala

  An unidentified man with a sheet of paper in his hands tried to stand next to Idris Yusupov*, who was holding a solo picket in support of Abdulmumin Gadjiev, and the journalist had to stop his protest action.

January 23, 2024 23:17

• Defence of Ingush activists challenges verdict in court of cassation

  In their cassation appeal, advocates of convicts claimed that the court of appeal had committed serious violations when considering the case against the Ingush oppositionists and that should become the basis for cancellation of the verdict.

January 23, 2024 22:56

• Activist Atamanchuk treats case on defamation as fabricated

  At a court hearing in a case on defamation instituted against Vladimir Atamanchuk, the judge dismissed all the motions filed by the defence; and the activist called the case a politically motivated falsification.