Mass arrests during protests ahead of Eurovision Song Contest in Baku in 2012 (Picture: Telegraph.co.uk)
The latest report by the Institute for Democratic Initiatives, independent Azerbaijani NGO, shows a spike in the number of administrative arrests, which are used as a ‘tool of political pressure’ in the country.
Aydin Gurbanov (/Meydan TV)
Aydin Gurbanov, one of the 80 detainees of Ganja protests in July 2018, died in custody from cancer on Wednesday. The authorities in Baku refused to release him despite repeated appeals by his relatives and human rights activists.
Grozny, Chechnya (Dominik K. Cagara /OC Media)
At least two people have been tortured to death and 40 detained in a new wave of state persecutions of queer people in the Russian Republic of Chechnya, Russian activists say.
Relatives of the sentenced men watching armoured vehicles leave the building of the Supreme Court of Chechnya in Grozny on 12 September (/YouTube)
On 12 September, a court in the Russian Republic of Chechnya convicted 14 men of ‘participation in an illegal armed formation’ and ‘illegal purchase and possession of weapons’. The trial was held in secret, with relatives claiming they were promised the men would receive lighter sentences if they did not contact rights groups or the media.
Archil Tatunashvili (RFL/RL)
An autopsy on the remains of Archil Tatunashvili, a Georgian citizen who died in South Ossetian custody in February, says that he suffered over 100 separate injuries before dying. South Ossetia claims that Tatunashvili, whose remains were transferred to Tbilisi almost three months ago, died after falling down a flight of stairs while trying to escape. [Read more…]
Emin Aslan (turan.az)
Azerbaijan’s Narimanov District Court has sentenced human rights lawyer Emin Aslan to 30 days administrative detention for ‘disobeying police’. The pretext for police to approach and detain Aslan remain unknown. [Read more…]
Magomed Khazbiyev (/gazetaingush.ru)
Magomed Khazbiyev, a well-known Ingush opposition figure and public activist, has been in a detention facility in the town of Karabulak since 11 January. He is being accused of illegal possession of weapons. He claims that the charges have been fabricated. His lawyers insist upon his release. Khazbiyev suffers from ulcers and skin disease. A suspect under investigation with such diseases should be released for treatment.
Oyub Titiyev (AP)
Oyub Titiyev, the head of Russian rights group Memorial in Chechnya who was arrested in January on drug charges, is to remain in pre-trial detention. On Wednesday, Grozny’s Staropromyslovsky District Court extended his detention until 9 June, Kavkaz.Realii reported.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) transferred the remains of Archil Tatunashvili. Ergneti, 20.03.2018 (Radio Tavisupleba)
South Ossetia has handed over the body of Archil Tatunashvili, a former Georgian soldier who died in prison in South Ossetia ‘in unclear circumstances’, to the Georgian authorities, 26 days after his death. [Read more…]
Magomed Dzhelilov (derbrayon.ru)
The head of the Derbent District administration in Daghestan, Magomed Dzhelilov, has been arrested on suspicion of ‘abuse of power’, and a criminal case has been launched against him.
