News

April 15, 2025 22:13

• Pre-planned nature is distinctive feature of attack on journalist Khoroshilov

  The actions of the man who attacked Igor Khoroshilov, a Rostov journalist, were prepared in advance, which excludes any spontaneous conflict. At the same time, the absence of direct proofs of links of the attack with Igor’s professional activities will allow law enforcers to treat the incident as a domestic conflict, lawyers have pointed out.

April 15, 2025 21:12

• Law enforcers ostracized relatives of employees of Telegram channel opposed to Chechen authorities

  Before deporting relatives of the NIYSO Telegram channel’s administrators and active commentators to Ingushetia, law enforcers gathered them and local residents in the mosque of the village of Gikalo and , where a “public curse ritual” was held there. The NIYSO activists considered the events an act of intimidation of the population.

April 14, 2025 23:49

• Rights defenders alarmed by deterioration of Azerbaijani oppositionist Yagublu’s health state during his hunger strike

  The “Amnesty International” human rights organization has called on the authorities of Azerbaijan to release and provide medical care to convicted oppositionist Tofig Yagublu, whose health state has deteriorated during his hunger strike.

April 14, 2025 23:13

• Activists report reprisals against relatives of teenager killed in Achkhoi-Martan

  The relatives of the teenager killed during an attack on a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint in Achkhoi-Martan are having their property confiscated. The reprisals affected even distant relatives of the killed young man, as well as relatives of administrators and commentators of the opposition NIYSO Telegram channel.

April 14, 2025 22:16

• Rostov journalist reports attack

  Igor Khoroshilov, a journalist, was attacked in Rostov-on-Don. According to his story, the attacker was wearing a mask, sprayed him with a can and hit him several times.

April 14, 2025 21:39

• NIYSO activist tells about his relatives’ mass eviction from Chechnya

  After the teen’s attack on the road-and-patrol (DPS) police post in Achkhoi-Martan, Chechen authorities accused the administrators of the NIYSO Telegram channel of involvement in radicalization and launched repressions against their families. The mass eviction of relatives from Chechnya with the confiscation of their property was organized with the aim to stop the work of the NIYSO Movement.

April 14, 2025 21:13

• Rights defenders explain decision to arrest Musaeva

  By May 1 this year, the court must issue a decision on a new freedom restriction measure for Zarema Musaeva in the case of disrupting the work of the colony. If they fail to decide by this date, it will be considered that no measure has been chosen for Musaeva.

April 12, 2025 22:41

• Father of teenager killed in Chechnya kidnapped in Moscow

  The father of the teenager killed in an attack on a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint in Achkhoi-Martan has been taken by law enforcers to Chechnya from Moscow and beaten, sources report.

April 11, 2025 23:40

• In Azerbaijan, number of those charged within case of grants for NGO activists reaches 10

  In Azerbaijan, four other activists have been charged in the case of receiving grants. Akhmed Mamedzade has been taken into custody, Aitadj Agazade has been arrested in absentia, and Galib Bairamov and Nargiz Mukhtarova have been placed under police surveillance. The number of case figurants has reached 10.

April 11, 2025 23:32

• Analysts dispute on links of Imams’ detention in Ingushetia with their activities

  The detention of Imam Mukhammad Tamaskhanov, popular among Ingush youth, became a warning to adherents of spiritual movements whose position diverges from that of the Muftiate; while the version about his links with militants is questionable, analysts have pointed out.

April 11, 2025 23:31

• Personal conflict named as motive for attack on DPS post in Achkhoi-Martan

  The day before, the teenager who attacked the road-and-patrol (DPS) police post in Achkhoi-Martan had a conflict with the law enforcer on duty there. The young man planned to take revenge on the offender, but by mistake fatally wounded his colleague, sources claim.

April 11, 2025 22:56

• Forcing state servants to attend rally held at body of young man killed in Achkhoi-Martan outrages them

  Authorities have demanded that teachers and high school pupils attend the rally held near the body of the teenager killed in Achkhoi-Martan during an attack on law enforcers. Law enforcers and administration officials did not allow them to leave the square, although several women lost consciousness, the participants in the rally have stated.

April 11, 2025 22:54

• Opposition Telegram channel employees report about detention of their relatives in Chechnya

  At least six relatives of people who collaborate with the NIYSO opposition Telegram channel have been detained in Chechnya. They have been detained amid the Ramzan Kadyrov’s threats against those involved in the attack on a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint in Achkhoi-Martan.

April 11, 2025 21:17

• Rights defenders launch fundraising for Azeri arrested journalists

  A charity campaign to raise funds in support of 38 Azerbaijani journalists, media workers and activists arrested for criticizing the government is timed to coincide with the World Press Freedom Day. The funds raised will be equally distributed among all those arrested.

April 10, 2025 23:59

• Rally over teenager’s body in Chechnya raises questions about compliance with Russian laws

  Journalist Ksenia Sobchak and human rights defender Eva Merkachyova questioned the legality of the actions of Chechen law enforcers, who put on public display the body of a teenager killed during an attack on a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint in Achkhoi-Martan.

April 10, 2025 23:58

• Intimidation with body of person killed in Chechnya becomes propaganda of cruelty

  The public demonstration of the body of the killed participant in the attack on a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint in Achkhoi-Martan contradicts Islam and common sense, as with such actions, the authorities are promoting cruelty and traumatizing the psyche of young people, human rights defenders and a Caucasus expert have pointed out.

April 10, 2025 23:56

• Georgian journalists treat set up of dictatorship as result of amendments to Law on Grants

  The adopted amendments to the Law on Grants for the first time in Georgia's modern history have enshrined authoritarianism legitimately. These changes will lead to the destruction of critical media and the establishment of a dictatorship, media professionals have stated.

April 10, 2025 22:48

• Activist injured during protest in Zugdidi

  In Zugdidi, the police clashed with activists who gathered near a memorial dedicated to the memory of those killed in Tbilisi on April 9, 1989. One of the protesters was taken to hospital.

April 10, 2025 22:11

• Body of person killed in Achkhoi-Martan placed in square in front of administration building

  Telegram channels have published videos that allegedly show the body of a minor, lying on the ground. The minor was killed in Achkhoi-Martan in an attack on law enforcers. The body was brought to be shown to public sector employees forcibly gathered from the administration in the morning, sources claim.

April 09, 2025 23:50

• Version of "Ukrainian trace" in attack on Chechen law enforcers called into question

  The authorities' attempt to identify a "Ukrainian trace" in the attack on law enforcers in Achkhoi-Martan raises doubts, while the incident itself gave Kadyrov a pretext to intensify repressions, analysts have noted.