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Crime

Crime

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Left photo: Mindia Gabadze/Publika; right photo via Tabula.
Crime

Georgian President attends funeral of murdered trans woman Kesaria Abramidze

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Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has attended the funeral of Kesaria Abramidze, a trans media personality and model who was murdered last week. Abramidze was laid to rest at a ceremony in Tbilisi on Sunday. She was also commemorated in Antwerp, a Belgian city that is home to a number of queer refugees and asylum seekers from Georgia. The Georgian Orthodox Church refused to provide burial services for Abramidze due to her transgender identity. Abramidze’s former partner, 26-year-old

Kesaria Abramidze. Image: Erti ambavi merikostan/Facebook.
Crime

Heartbreak in Georgia after murder of prominent trans woman

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The high-profile murder of trans media personality and model Kesaria Abramidze has led to an outpouring of grief and anger in Georgia, with many linking her murder to the ruling party’s transphobic rhetoric and legislation. Hours after the initial news broke on Wednesday evening, the Interior Ministry confirmed 37-year-old Abramidze was killed after receiving multiple knife wounds following an altercation in her home in Didi Dighomi.  They also confirmed that they had detained a primary susp

Graffiti on Baku Metro painted by Théo Clerc. Via social media.
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan sentences French national to three years in prison for spray painting train

Azerbaijan has sentenced a French citizen to three years in prison for spray painting a Baku metro car, as diplomatic relations between Baku and Paris remain tense. On 10 September, the Narimanov District Court in Baku sentenced Théo Clerc to three years in prison for painting the train carriage at the Baku metro depot. Australian citizen Paul Han and New Zealand citizen Ismael De-Saint Quentin were fined ₼6,800 ($4,000) each for the same charge. The harsh sentencing of Clerc compared to

Disability care home in Psedakh.
Crime

Ingushetia disability care home accused of chaining naked patients to benches

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Images have appeared online purportedly showing patients being abused at an Ingush care home for people with intellectual disabilities.  Images shared by Russian Telegram channel Baza [WARNING: DISTURBING IMAGERY] showed naked patients shackled to benches and to the wall in an empty tiled room. Also shown in the images were metal bowls from which the patients eat from using their hands.  The facility in Psedakh, a village in northwestern Ingushetia, caters to people who are unable to care

Police officers at the Nor Nork Police Department in Yerevan. Image via Hetq.
Armenia

Three people arrested for attack on Yerevan police station

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Three men armed with hand grenades have been arrested and charged with terrorism for attempting to break into a police station in Yerevan, throwing a hand grenade at the entrance. The three men attempted to break into the Nor Nork Police Department in Yerevan on Sunday. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that they had ‘threatened to blow up the station with hand grenades’, and that one of them, identified only by his initials, threw a grenade at the entrance of the police station. N

An Azerbaijani police officer. Photo: MIA.az.
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani authorities remain silent over murder of trans woman 

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Azerbaijani authorities have remained silent over the apparent murder of a transgender woman near Baku, failing to confirm if an investigation into her death was underway.  According to local queer rights activist Alex Shah, the woman, identified only as ‘Aytan’, was found late on 12 March in Khojasan, on the outskirts of Baku. A photo shared among the local transgender women’s community seen by OC Media showed her body beaten lying on the side of the road. ‘The photograph of Aytan’s body

A beach in Sukhumi (Sukhum). Photo: Dominik Cagara/OC Media.
Abkhazia

Russia warns tourists about travel to Abkhazia

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The Russian Foreign Ministry has said they have been forced to warn their citizens about the ‘risk’ of travelling to Abkhazia, after a man convicted of raping a Russian tourist in 2019 was released from prison. In a statement published online on 16 February, the ministry condemned what it said was a ‘lenient attitude’ by the Abkhazian courts. Edgar Abukhba was convicted in 2021 of attacking and raping a Russian woman in Sukhumi (Sukhum) in July 2019, when he was 17 years old.  He was origi

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