#Caucasian Knot (website)

[russianreader]

Circassian Day of Mourning (May 21)

On the day of the end of the Russian-Caucasian war of 1763–1864, on the day of memory and sorrow of the Circassians, we publish another album-manifesto from Jrpjej. In addition to music, the album is accompanied by a pdf-zine with our reflection on Circassian songs of the 20th century and their relevance today “Sefitse” is a line from the song “Quedzoqo Tole Tsiku.” In the Adyghe language, “se”…

[militant-holy-knight]

An outspoken blogger from Chechnya who had criticized the country’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been found brutally murdered in France, several of his acquaintances have said, in the latest killing of a Chechen dissident in Europe.

Imran Aliev, 44, was found dead late last week in a hotel room in the city of Lille. He had been stabbed repeatedly in the neck. Accounts of Aliev’s murder were confirmed by a Chechen opposition journalist who knew Aliev, and by one other Chechen living in Europe who asked not to be named because of concerns for his safety.

The police have not yet named any suspects, although police sources have told French media that they suspect the motive may be political. Chechens living in exile who have fought or spoken out against Kadyrov – the ruthless Chechen leader appointed by Vladimir Putin – have often been targeted for assassination. Last year, a former Chechen rebel commander was shot twice in the head in a targeted killing in Berlin’s Kleiner Tiergarten. The suspected assassin is Russian.

Aliev, who settled in Belgium after leaving Chechnya, was described as an eccentric and divisive figure who often published YouTube videos critical of the Chechen government under the pseudonym Mansur Stariy, or Old Mansur. He had also sparked conflicts by targeting natives of Ingushetia and Dagestan, regions that neighbour Chechnya, in profanity-laced tirades that had earned threats on his life. Those who knew Aliev expressed surprise that he had been targeted because he was seen as a marginal figure suffering from debilitating health issues.

“He was murdered especially cruelly,” wrote Musa Taipov, a Chechen opposition journalist based in Strasbourg who said he was in regular contact with Aliev. In a Facebook post, Taipov described Aliev as a “difficult but honest” acquaintance who was managing a difficult illness with painkillers and would sometimes issue “not entirely proper declarations”. “Some people, they offended. For others, they were ‘funny’,” Taipov wrote. He sometimes urged Aliev to delete the YouTube videos, Taipov said, and “most of the time he agreed”.

Police have not publicly identified any suspects in the case. A lawyer who knew Aliev told the Caucasian Knot website that the blogger had received a visitor from Chechnya several days before his death. The man had asked for Aliev’s help with a health condition and the two travelled from Belgium to Lille together, where Aliev was last seen alive.

The man then disappeared. Minkail Malizaev, a Chechen blogger who left Grozny under pressure and now lives in Germany, also claimed in an online post that the man visiting Aliev had also sought a meeting with him.

Thousands of refugees and emigres from Chechnya live in Europe. Many fled the two wars that devastated the region from the 1990s, while others escaped the brutal crackdown against dissent under Kadyrov, who has headed the region since 2007 and runs it as a near-fiefdom. Aliev had political asylum in Belgium, the lawyer said.

The trail of assassinations of prominent Chechens in Europe and the Middle East stretches back more than a decade, and includes former rebel commanders and government critics. Increasingly, the attacks have targeted people who posed no real political danger to Kadyrov, but merely took to Instagram or YouTube accounts to voice their dissatisfaction with Chechnya’s leaders in Grozny.

“I have no doubt that [Aliev] was on a list of people who have been sentenced to death,” said Tumso Abdurakhmanov, a video blogger living in Europe who has received threats from allies of Kadyrov for his criticism on YouTube of Chechnya’s government. Abdurakhmanov claimed that before Aliev’s murder, he had received information that a hitman from Chechnya had been dispatched to western Europe, and shared the details of the man’s itinerary with German police. Abdurakhmanov said he initially believed that the hitman was targeting him. He declined to reveal the source of that information.

However, Taipov said in an interview he was skeptical that Kadyrov was behind the killing. He told the Guardian that Aliev had received a wave of threats last month from natives of Ingushetia, another region of Russia, because of insulting remarks concerning a border conflict with Chechnya.

Aliev had even been put under police protection, Taipov said, and may have been lured to Lille because it was just beyond the jurisdiction of Belgian police. “There is no logic to this murder, either in the motivations or in the way it was carried out,” he said. The murder of an unidentified man at the Hôtel Coq Hardi near Lille train station was first reported on 30 January by La Voix du Nord, a local newspaper. According to the paper, the body of the man was found in his room by the cleaning staff after he failed to check out of his room. The body bore multiple stab wounds to the neck and a knife, the suspected murder weapon, was also found in the room.

The newspaper did not identify Aliev. But on Monday evening, the news agency Agence France-Presse reported that the victim was Aliev, citing sources in the French police who added that he was travelling with another man “of the same nationality”.

[humanrightsupdates]

Take action! Novaya Gazeta threatened for reporting torture of gay men in Chechnya

The staff of Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and journalists supporting them have been threatened following the newspaper’s publication of reports about the abduction and torture of gay men in Chechnya.

On 1 April, Novaya Gazeta reported that over a hundred men believed to be gay had been recently abducted, as part of a coordinated campaign. Reaction from Chechen officials to this information has varied from denial to thinly veiled threats. On 3 April, 15,000 people including Chechen elders, public opinion leaders and Muslim theologians attended an assembly at the central mosque in the Chechen capital Grozny. At the assembly, Adam Shakhidov, a Counsellor to the Head of Chechnya, publicly accused the newspaper of lies and described its staff members as “the enemies of our faith and homeland”. A resolution adopted at the meeting stated, amongst other things: “Considering that the Chechen society’s age-long foundations have been insulted, as have been Chechen men’s dignity as well as our faith, we promise that the real instigators [of this] will face retaliation, irrespective of where and who they are, however long this takes”. A recording of Adam Shakhidov’s speech and of the assembly has been widely circulated on local state-controlled television and through social media. Following the threats to Novaya Gazeta, the independent radio station Ekho Moskvy, which came out in support of the threatened staff, has also been threatened by the Mufti of Chechnya, Salakh Mezhiev.

Public calls for retaliation made by influential people in Chechnya in the past have on many occasions been followed by attacks on the individuals concerned, including killings. Those who issued the threats have enjoyed impunity, and the killings and other incidents of violence have never been fully and effectively investigated. Among the victims of such attacks were Novaya Gazeta’s journalist Anna Politkovskaya, celebrated for her reporting on Chechnya, who was murdered in 2006, as well as human rights defender Natalya Estemirova who had been a frequent contributor to Novaya Gazeta, and who was murdered in 2009.

Please write immediately in Russian or your own language:

Urging the Russian authorities to address the threats made against Novaya Gazeta staff members and Ekho Moskvy, and ensuring that they are investigated promptly, effectively and impartially in accordance with Article 144 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation regarding the “obstruction of lawful professional activities of journalists”;

Urging them to publicly condemn all threats and violence against journalists and commit to bringing those responsible to account;

Reminding them that as a party to the European Convention on Human Rights the Russian authorities have an obligation to guarantee freedom of expression and protect journalists from threats and attacks.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 30 MAY 2017 TO:

Chairman of the Investigation Committee Aleksandr Ivanovich Bastrykin Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation Tekhnicheskii pereulok, dom 2 105005 Moscow, Russian Federation Fax: +7 495 966 97 76 Online submissions (accepted only in Russian): http://sledcom.ru/references/Organizacija_priema_grazhdan#reception Salutation: Dear Chairman

Prosecutor General Yuriy Yakovlevich Chaika Prosecutor General’s Office ul. B. Dmitrovka, d.15a 125993 Moscow GSP- 3 Russian Federation Fax: +7 495 987 58 41/ +7 495 692 17 25 Online submissions (accepted only in Russian):http://ipriem.genproc.gov.ru/contacts/ipriem/send/ Salutation: Dear Prosecutor General

And copies to: Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation Tatiana Nikolaevna Moskalkova ul. Miasnitskaia, 47 107084 Moscow Russian Federation Fax: +7 495 607 7470 / +7 495 607 3977 (to check if fax received: +7 495 607 1854)

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. HIS EXCELLENCY MR ALEXANDER VLADIMIROVICH YAKOVENKO, Embassy of Russia, 6-7 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QP, 020 7229 6412

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the first update of UA 80/17. Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/6023/2017/en/ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION On 1 April, the Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that over a hundred of men believed to be gay had been recently abducted, as part of a coordinated campaign. According to confidential credible sources, the abducted men were tortured and otherwise ill-treated, and forced to disclose other LGBTI individuals known to them. Novaya Gazeta was able to verify that at least three men had been killed by their captors, but its sources claimed that there had been many more killings, including by family members to whom some of these men were returned. On 4 April, Novaya Gazeta published several testimonies of eyewitnesses revealing details of secret detention sites in Chechnya where abducted gay men are held and tortured. (For more information please see https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/take-action/chechnya-stop-abducting-and-killing-gay-men/)

Journalists and human rights defenders who reported human rights violations in Chechnya have on numerous occasions faced threats and physical violence. These are rarely if ever effectively investigated. On 9 March 2016, two members of the human rights organization Joint Mobile Group (JMG), along with their driver and six journalists from Russian, Norwegian and Swedish media, were assaulted by a group of armed masked men suspected of being local law enforcement officials while travelling from North Ossetia to Chechnya. Two hours later, the JMG’s office in Ingushetia was ransacked by a mob, and on 16 March 2016, the JMG’s leader Igor Kalyapin was asked to leave a hotel in Grozny by the manager because he “did not love” the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Igor Kalyapin was then punched and pelted with eggs, cakes, flour and disinfectant by an angry mob. None of these incidents were effectively investigated. (See https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/3643/2016/en/ as well as https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/1802/2015/en/).

On 5 September 2016, Zhalaudi Geriev, a contributor to the authoritative news resource dedicated to the Caucasus region, Caucasian Knot, known for his criticism of the leadership of Chechnya, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by the Shali District Court of Chechnya for allegedly possessing 167 grams of marijuana. At his trial he withdrew his “confession” to the drugs charge, saying that three men in plain clothes had detained him on 16 April, forced him into a car and driven him to a forest outside Grozny, where he was tortured before being handed over to law enforcement officers who forced him to “confess”.

On 6 January 2017, Magomed Daudov, speaker of the Chechen parliament and one of the most powerful Chechen officials, used his Instagram account to threaten Grigory Shvedov, the editor-in-chief of Caucasian Knot. This incident was not effectively investigated. (See https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/5442/2017/en/). According to the Committee for Projection of Journalists, 56 journalists have been killed in Russia since 1992.

Further information on UA: 80/17 Index: EUR 46/6075/2017 Issue Date: 18 April 2017

Download PDF

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!  Please let us know if you have taken action on this case.  You can either include us - iar@amnesty.org.uk - in the email you send to the authorities or send us a seperate email if you've sent your appeal by post or fax.  Tell us any way you like!  All we need to know if that you've sent an appeal and the UA number - which is at the top of each email.  Thank you.

We are now on twitter, follow us for information on Urgent Action cases: @AmnestyUKUrgent

You can view all UAs on our website here. To download your copy of the Urgent Action Participation Guide that will tell you everything you need to know about the Network click here. To see latest updates, blogs and our quarterly news round up on Urgent Actions please visit our Urgent Action blog here.

[armeniaitn]

Armenian government moves against opposition figure

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/economy/armenian-government-moves-against-opposition-figure-21398-15-06-2020/

Armenian government moves against opposition figure

The Armenian security services have searched the home of a leading opposition politician and detained hundreds of his supporters in an escalating battle with the man who until recently had been Armenia’s most conspicuously untouched oligarch.

The morning of June 14, officers from the National Security Service (NSS) searched the home of Gagik Tsarukyan, the head of the Prosperous Armenia party, the largest opposition group in parliament. Several other party members’ homes also were searched, and over 250 party supporters were detained, some of them forcefully, after they gathered in front the NSS headquarters to show their support. (The current coronavirus state of emergency bans protests.)

Later, the NSS issued three separate statements announcing criminal cases initiated against Tsarukyan, including evading more than $60 million in taxes in his casino businesses, including the massive Shangri La casino outside Yerevan. He also is accused of bribing voters in the 2017 parliamentary elections and of illegally taking over state land.

The NSS also released a video on June 15 showing the search, including several of Tsarukyan’s luxury cars and his lions in a private zoo.

The legal actions came after more than a week of sharp conflict between Tsarukyan and the ruling My Step coalition, in particular Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Even after Pashinyan came to power in the spring of 2018 on a promise to root out the country’s long-entrenched oligarchs, he reached a sort of accommodation with Tsarukyan, one of the country’s richest men and also one of its most politically influential. Tsarukyan played a key role in organizing early parliamentary elections later that year, against the wishes of the then-majority Republican Party of Armenia, that ultimately brought My Step to power.

As many of the country’s business figures connected with the old regime were prosecuted and investigated, Tsarukyan remained untouched. Until very recently Tsarukyan had even managed to grow his businesses and secure for them privileges from the state.

And while Prosperous Armenia reliably opposed many of My Step’s initiatives in parliament, Tsarukyan remained more or less on good terms with Pashinyan and the government.

But recently Tsarukyan had become a sharper critic. Following the country’s disastrous response to the coronavirus outbreak, which led to Armenia being the regional leader in per capita infections, Tsarukyan on June 5 called on the government to resign due to its “ineffective efforts” against COVID-19 and Armenia’s “failing economy.”

“One hundred percent of the government has to be changed,” he said at a party meeting, calling on other opposition forces to unite against the government.

Later that day, Pashinyan’s spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan responded by revealing what had until then been undisclosed ongoing criminal investigations against Tsarukyan.

“I think Mr. Tsarukyan is just concerned about a number of criminal cases involving money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption. If Mr. Tsarukyan thinks that his political statements will differ the normal process of the investigation, he has made a mistake,” she wrote.

Three days later, the newspaper Armenian Times – previously owned by Pashinyan and still edited by his wife – published leaked documents regarding a rape charge against Tsarukyan from 1979, for which he was later exonerated.

Following the search of his home, Tsarukyan said that the prosecution of him was politically motivated.

“Today’s situation is an escalation, it’s political, they want to put pressure and blackmail me, but I say as Gagik Tsarukyan, I’ll be a son of a whore if I back off,” said Tsarukyan. He was later taken to the NSS headquarters and interrogated for nine hours.

As a member of parliament, Tsarukyan has immunity against prosecution, but his allies have warned that the government will try to work around that. “A political decision has been made for General Prosecutor Artur Davtyan to bring to the National Assembly on Tuesday [June 16] a petition to strip Tsarukyan of his parliamentary immunity and indict him,” wrote Prosperous Armenia MP Naira Zohrabyan in a Facebook post.

In the evening of June 15, speaker of parliament Ararat Mirzoyan announced that the following day parliament would in fact discuss proposals to prosecute and arrest Tsarukyan.

Analysts supported the notion that that the investigations against Tsarukyan are politically motivated.

“It was clear that the developing contradictions [between Tsarukyan and the government] would at some point take on a sharp form,” said Boris Navasardyan, the head of Yerevan Press Club, in an interview with news website Caucasian Knot.

“If Tsarukyan was a hidden opponent before, now he is challenging them openly,” Navasardyan said. “Taking into account that Tsarukyan leads the only [opposition] political force that has real support among the public, this factor plays a serious role in the consolidation of the opposition. Without him, the consolidation of the opposition doesn’t represent a threat to the government. And so his neutralization became politically necessary, all the more so considering the falling ratings of the government.”

Armen Vardanyan, an analyst at the Yerevan think tank Armenian Institute of International Affairs and Security, also argued that the charges are political.

“Tsarukyan doesn’t have an ideal past. He was involved, in particular, in corruption and falsification of elections. But when criminal cases are opened after his call for the government to resign, this suggests a political motive,” he told Caucasian Knot.

Read original article here.

[goldbridesmaiddresses1]

daily deals indorse up to 50% discounts on dresses from many of the top brands nordstrom prom dresses*#(#)@_(+~

Lalamira.com brings the possibleness for the worldwide women to work for specialiser ritual dresses at cheap prices. The online accumulation brings adjustment deals on a regular groundwork for their caucasian customers. These daily deals indorse up to 50% discounts on dresses from many of the top brands nordstrom prom dresses. According to the interpreter of the web keep, they feature lalamrdresseiwpgu200401 Maggie Sottero Nuptials Dresses in their grouping at decrease prices. "These ceremonial dresses are especially touristed among women customers for their uncommon designs and stunning styles. These ceremony gowns are free in a countywide variety of styles and any woman would fuck to wear one of the gowns on her rite day. All dresses boast elegant workmanship and some of them create the Swarovski stone entirety that alter them mythological and exquisite," the proponent states. One can maturate hundreds of marriage gowns exactly twin designs of Maggie Sottero and can savour galvanizing discounts as recovered. Lalamira.com also has an lovable assemblage of Davinci Ceremonial Dresses that can simply deepen the model and make quotient of any marrying missy. Davinci Wedding gowns are oft comprehended for their classic communication and umpteen women get them the somebody clothing to endure at the instance of ligature the nuptial knot, amidst strain and flashbulbs lace prom dresses. One can find individual ritzy styles and can also death assured of receiving discounts from them. Davinci gowns regularly movie in their regular deals and women can layover a try of grabbing a Davinci ritual raiment at a highly discounted cost. They also feature the latest assemblage of Jordan Rite Dresses. There are numerous girls who phantasy of marrying their envisage man, act a fabulously crafted River party garment. For all specified women, Lalamira.com has grateful surprises as their regular offers. One can remain checking their regular deduction deals to develop crosswise a whopping discount that can reproduce her online shopping experience.

Lalamira.com intends to transmute an online activity supplying branded ritual dresses at adjustment prices. One can record checking their daily diminution deals which oft amount with individual astonishing offers. In prescript to looking through the ceremonial dresses they feature in their assemblage, one may travel the website www.lalamira.com. Nearly Lalamira.com Lalamira.com is a nonrecreational rite dress/prom attire business and retailer. They pretend individual grade dresses for brides all over the concern. By using the human property fabrics on the market and with the most toughened tailors, every outerwear and habiliment are prefabricated by them, ensuring a utopian fit to each consumer. All dresses prefabricated by them instrument be 90-95% same to the seminal ones.

[longsleeveeveningdresses]

*~*)*@_women customers for their extraordinary designs and stunning styles burgundy bridesmaid dresses

Lalamira.com brings the chance for the worldwide women to course for planner ceremonial dresses at affordable prices. The online outlet brings reduction deals on a regular base for their caucasian customers. These daily deals vouch up to 50% discounts on dresses from both of the top brands. According to the voice of the web lalamrdresseiwpgu200401 keep, they get Maggie Sottero Nuptials Dresses in their assembling at reduction prices. "These nuptials dresses are especially general among women customers for their extraordinary designs and stunning styles burgundy bridesmaid dresses. These ritual gowns are disposable in a broad show of styles and any oriental would fuck to decay one of the gowns on her ceremonial day. All dresses movie exquisite workmanship and some of them create the Swarovski crystal works that pee them fabulous and gracious," the proponent states. One can find hundreds of marriage gowns just matching designs of Maggie Sottero and can savour provocative discounts as advantageously.

Lalamira.com also has an adorable publication of Davinci Nuptials Dresses that can only raise the example and style quotient of any marrying woman petite mother of the bride dresses. Davinci Ceremony gowns are ofttimes gratifying for their creation call and numerous women bump them the superior wear to fag at the instance of ligature the spousal knot, amidst air and flashbulbs. One can feel individual luxe styles and can also relief assured of receiving discounts from them. Davinci gowns regularly have in their daily deals and women can platform a possibility of grabbing a Davinci ceremonial raiment at a highly discounted value. They also screw the latest grouping of River Rite Dresses. There are numerous girls who vision of marrying their fantasy man, act a fabulously crafted Jordan party scrubs. For all much women, Lalamira.com has pleasant surprises as their regular offers. One can cook checking their daily diminution deals to amount across a whopping reduction that can multiply her online shopping have cheap formal dresses.

Lalamira.com intends to beautify an online activity supplying branded rite dresses at allowance prices. One can keep checking their regular refund deals which often arrive with individual amazing offers. In organization to look through the observance dresses they fuck in their accumulation, one may travel the website www.lalamira.com. Almost Lalamira.com Lalamira.com is a professed ritual dress/prom garb shaper and merchandiser. They change first propertied dresses for brides all over the reality. By using the foremost level fabrics on the mart and with the most practiced tailors, every gown and costume are prefab by them, ensuring a impeccable fit to each customer. All dresses prefab by them will be 90-95% similar to the creation ones. You May Also Like: It's time to buy collection of wedding dresses and girls party d ... you will need to make a decision the level of tunes and also a ... Beachfront marriage ceremony usually are relaxed into their ... most of women would prefer to wear one pair of... - Searching ... Attendant Dresses Erstwhile?you've spent months toil set your ...

[russianreader]

Circassian Activist Martin Kochesoko Arrested in Drugs Frame-Up Shown here protesting a law bill that would make Russia's minority languages an elective part of the curriculum, Circassian grassroots activist Martin Kochesoko was detained and charged with narcotics possession on June 7 in Nalchik, the capital city of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic.

[mariannemathews67671-blog]

Urgent Action: Journalist Threatened By Chechen Official (Russian Federation: UA 4/17)

The speaker of the Chechen parliament used his Instagram account to threaten prominent journalist Grigory Shvedov on 6 January. Grigory Shvedov is the editor-in-chief of Caucasian Knot, an independent website reporting on the situation in the Caucasus.

January 9, 2017

  The speaker of the Chechen parliament used his Instagram account to threaten prominent journalist Grigory Shvedov on 6 January. Grigory Shvedov is the editor-in-chief of Caucasian Knot, an independent website reporting on the situation in the Caucasus.

  Grigory Shvedov is a co-founder and the editor-in-chief of one of the most authoritative news resources dedicated to the Caucasus region, Caucasian Knot.

uaa00417.pdf

uaa00417.docx

read more