Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, fires and drones in the Caucasus, parliamentary elections in Georgia, persecution of pacifists and activists in Southern Russia, anniversary of the terror act in Beslan, and official data on the natives of Southern Russia who perished in Ukraine, – see the review of these and other events in the Caucasus during the week of August 26-September 1, 2024, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

Mourning events were held in North Ossetia to mark the 20th anniversary of school capture in Beslan. There, at School No. 1, the mourning ceremony began with the ringing of the school bell; its participants commemorated the victims of the terror act.

The case materials on an extremist community contain no proofs of the guilt of Aslan Naptugov and Oleko Kuzhev, residents of the city of Cherkessk, their advocates have stated. Naptugov treats his criminal case as political persecution.

The practices of kidnapping and enforced disappearances in the regions of Northern Caucasus, primarily in Chechnya, are a legacy of two Chechen campaigns. This issue is very acute due to authorities' repressions, but the fight against these practices must be continued. This was stated by the participants of the online conference of human rights defenders, organized by the "Memory Project" team jointly with the "Vyorstka" (Layout)* outlet.

The non-commercial organization (NCO) "Civil Initiative against Environmental Crime"* has been added to the register of foreign agents, the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has informed.

The Slavyansk-on-Kuban City Court has fined a local resident by 30,000 roubles, treating his comments posted in the "VKontakte" social network as discredited the Russian Army.

The cassation instance has upheld the sentence of Andzor Kudaev, a resident of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), who was sentenced to six years in penal colony on charges of aiding terrorism and possessing weapons. The instance has found the defence's arguments that Kudaev had confessed under torture to be untenable.

Sulumbek Yandyrkhanov, a former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), has been sentenced to four and a half years of imprisonment for beating a detained resident of Magas. The above information is reported on the Telegram channel of the “Travmpunkt” human rights project.

The court has extended the arrest of Alexei Schus, a Sochi resident, accused of distributing fakes about Russian Army.

Cases of detainees jumping from windows of police buildings are rare in Russia and are associated with the fear of becoming a victim of torture, human rights defenders have stated after an incident at the Makhachkala police station.

Alexei Schus, an engineer from Sochi, accused of disseminating fakes about the Russian Army and making a weapon, has complained that the conditions of detention at a SIZO (pre-trial prison) in Krasnodar are torture. There are not enough sleeping places for prisoners, and they are not taken out for walks.

The institutions of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN) have staff deficit; and those who work there with great overloads have modest salaries, which contributes to corruption and violation of safety rules for personal gains. This was stated by law enforcers in their comments on the hostage-taking incidents that occurred in Surovikino and Rostov-on-Don.

The court has extended the custody of Zaur Magomedov, accused of involvement in the militants' attacks committed in Derbent and Makhachkala, by three months. It was done despite the complaints from Magomedov's defence that the proofs in the case had been falsified, the advocate has stated.

In the Stavropol Territory, following the reconsideration of appeals, a court has changed the article under which ecologist Sergey Legkobitov was found guilty from attempted bribery to the transfer of a bribe, an advocate reports.

Alexei Schus, an engineer from Sochi, has deleted his posts on a social network that the law enforcement bodies considered dissemination of fake news about the Russian Army, and the weapon the man was accused of making was a modification of a slingshot, an advocate reports.

A woman, whose niqab a man tried to remove because of a temporary ban by the muftiate, lodged a complaint to the police. There are opponents of wearing niqab in Dagestan, but no such aggressive actions have ever happened earlier, journalists note.

In Dagestan, social network users are discussing the video showing an attack of an aggressive passerby on a woman wearing a niqab in Makhachkala. The man motivated his attempts to take the niqab off her by the Muftiate's ban on this type of religious clothing.

The court has obliged the Dagestani Ministry of Public Health (MPH) to provide the due medication to the minor daughter of a local resident, who suffers from a disease affecting organs and bones.

The fate of Seda Suleimanova remains on everyone’s lips thanks to pickets and information activity. The law enforcement bodies had to institute a criminal case in connection with the Seda Suleimanova’s disappearance, although there has been no progress in the investigation, activists believe.