Minority Rights

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Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan sentences Talysh activist to 16 years in prison for treason

by Aytan Farhadova

•2 min read

Ethnic Talysh activist Mirhafiz Jafarzade, who advocated for the creation of Talysh school textbooks in Azerbaijan, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of treason. Jafarzade, who is also a Russian citizen, was found guilty of treason in the form of espionage on Thursday. Jafarzade was detained by the authorities in November 2022. That day, pro-government media reported that the trial had determined that Jafarzade worked ‘in secret cooperation with foreign special services

Mamuka Khazaradze (left) being interviewed by POSTV. Screengrab from POSTV video.

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Armenophobic attacks by pro-government media target Georgian opposition leader

by Shota Kincha

•3 min read

Pro-government TV channel POSTV has launched a series of Armenophobic attacks against the chair of the Lelo party and leading figure in the broader Strong Georgia opposition alliance, Mamuka Khazaradze. On 11 October, POSTV released a video showing an unnamed reporter pressing Khazaradze with accusations that he was concealing his supposed Armenian heritage. The on-the-spot interview was evidently recorded on 10 October, when Khazaradze and Strong Georgia were holding a campaign event in Tel

Chechnya

Migrant worker beaten in Chechnya for ‘approaching’ Chechen woman

by Luiza Mchedlishvili

•1 min read

A migrant worker in Grozny has purportedly been beaten up on camera for ‘approaching’ a Chechen woman. On Monday, ChP Chechnya, a local Telegram channel, published footage purportedly shot in Chechnya showing a man beating another man in the distance. In another video, a crowd is seen surrounding the two men, one of whom appears to be visibly injured, and another warning onlookers against ‘approaching’ Chechen women. ‘There is no Nazism here: we treat everyone with respect, we treat ever

A mob led by Orthodox priests attempting to break into Imam Merab Mikeladze’s home to disrupt his prayer.

Georgia

Mob led by Georgian Orthodox priests threatens local imam over Friday prayer

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•3 min read

Georgian Orthodox priests in southwestern Georgia led a mob of 200 people in an attempt to break into the house of a local imam to disrupt Friday prayer. The mob attempted to break into Imam Merab (Yusuf) Mikeladze’s house in Adigeni in Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti region on Friday. Batumelebi reported that Mikeladze had been holding Friday prayers at his house for the past ‘few years’, which some in Adigeni, including members of the Orthodox clergy, protested. Footage of the incident

A synagogue in Tbilisi. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Analysis

Datablog | Georgians increasingly agree that minority groups face challenges in Georgia

by Sasha Slobodov

•2 min read

In a recent CRRC survey on discrimination in Georgia, more Georgians agreed that a range of minority groups face challenges in the country than did three years prior, and they increasingly agree on the main issues that those groups face. A survey on hate crime, hate speech, and discrimination in Georgia CRRC Georgia conducted for the Council of Europe in 2018 and 2021 found a number of changes in attitudes among the Georgian population toward the issues that minority groups face. When asked

Taleh Baghirzade in 2015. Video still via Xalq TV.

Azerbaijan

Hunger strike of Azerbaijani religious leader continues

by Ismi Aghayev

•1 min read

Taleh Baghirzade, chair of Azerbaijan’s Muslim Unity Movement, has been on hunger strike since 3 June in protest against the arrest and alleged torture of members of his organisation. Baghirzade has also demanded an apology from the law enforcement officers who allegedly insulted God while interrogating a member of the group. Baghirzade’s lawyer, Fakhraddin Mehdiyev, told OC Media that despite having ‘serious health problems’ his client would not stop his hunger strike until ‘the perpetrator

Armenia

Armenian Yazidi says he was ‘beaten and abused’ while serving as a conscript

by Ani Avetisyan

•2 min read

An 18-year-old ethnic Yazidi man has claimed he was abused immediately upon being conscripted into the Armenian armed forces. On 2 February, relatives of Vle Feroyan appealed to the public after they said they had lost contact with him. Feroyan contacted them the following day and said he had escaped to a nearby forest and would return home, after being beaten and forced to clean a toilet. The commander of the Kapan military unit, where Feroyan was serving, denied the allegations. He said Fe