Human 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

Armenia

Armenia’s ruling party faces criticism over soldier non-combat deaths

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•2 min read

Human rights activist Zaruhi Hovhannisyan has slammed the Deputy Chair of the Armenian Parliament’s Defence Committee, Armen Khachatryan, for attempting to downplay the responsibility of the authorities in the non-combat deaths of soldiers. ‘In our civilian life, we have many suicides, we have many accidents. I don’t know why you don’t talk about it, the reasons for those suicides’, Khachatryan said on Tuesday, in response to a question regarding the recent death of a soldier outside of comba

Salome Zurabishvili. Photo: via Facebook.

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Zourabichvili refuses to sign Georgian queer propaganda law

by OC Media

•3 min read

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has refused to sign the queer propaganda law passed by parliament, nor has she used her presidential powers to veto it. On Wednesday, the presidential administration confirmed to OC Media that the president did not sign the law ‘on protection of family values and minors’. The legislation, passed by parliament on 17 September, would be far-ranging, affecting education, healthcare, media, business, and public gatherings, and would demonstratively prohib

Vidadi Isgandarli. Screengrab via Youtube.

Azerbaijan

Exiled Azerbaijani activist Vidadi Isgandarli dies after stabbing in France

by Aytan Farhadova

•3 min read

Exiled Azerbaijani human rights activist Vidadi Isgandarli has died in hospital after being stabbed multiple times in his office in France. Isgandarli was attacked by three unknown persons in his office in Mulhouse, France on Sunday. After being stabbed with a knife multiple times, he was taken to a local hospital and placed in intensive care. ‘His lungs and liver were injured, which was critical for his health. Most of the knife attacks hit his stomach’, Isgandarli’s brother, Ogtay Isga

Vidadi Isgandarli. Image via social media.

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani human rights activist stabbed at home in France

by Aytan Farhadova

•2 min read

An exiled Azerbaijani human rights defender has been stabbed at his home in Mulhouse, France. Vidadi Isgandarli was reportedly attacked in the early hours of Sunday. The news was shared on social media by Azerbaijani investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli. ‘Vidadi Isgandarli was attacked by three unknown persons who stabbed him. The situation is as serious as it sounds. He was stabbed more than four times’, Mukhtarli wrote on Facebook. He added that Isgandarli was taken to a local

The author, and a Ukrainian-Chechen protest in Sheffield.

Chechnya

Opinion | Fighting on two fronts: Chechen activists in the West

by Ayman Eckford

•10 min read

Exiled from their republic due to threats to their lives, Chechen activists in the West navigate a difficult balance between visibility and caution, facing erasure by both Russian and Western society. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine might offer Chechnya and its activists a shift in the tides. ‘Ukraine’s incredible incursion into the Kursk region made me finally believe that Russia could soon be defeated’. This is what Ali Bakaev, a Chechen online activist who now lives in London tells m

Protest of Shukruti residents outside the parliament. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Chiatura Manganese Mines

Georgian Manganese–linked company attacks critics and media covering Shukruti hunger strike

by OC Media

•6 min read

A company that has been linked to mining firm Georgian Manganese has claimed that people on hunger strike over the destruction of their homes are being ‘fully managed’ by NGOs and media organisations, including OC Media. Chiatura Management Company stated on Thursday that they had ‘reasonable suspicions’ that the demonstrators were ‘backed by non-governmental organisations that are also directly connected to radical political parties, which in turn use the protests for their own narrow party i