Relatives of Ali Karimli, leader of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), have stated that he is not receiving parcels while in pretrial detention. Azadeh Rojkhan, PACE General Rapporteur on Political Prisoners, called on the Azerbaijani authorities to review the charges against Karimli and ensure that his rights are respected during the investigation.
On May 2, the Shamilsky District administration published a video with an apology from a woman who had previously made public a video about the sale of stewed meat in the district center, allegedly stolen from the military.
The video, titled “Russian tourist outraged by the sale of military goods in Dagestan,” was widely distributed on social networks and caused a great stir. The woman filmed a car in Khebda, on the hood of which goods were laid out: old-style camouflage clothing and stewed meat with the inscription “Not for sale.”
“We in Sevastopol collect money, send it to people at the front, and some rat, a bastard, stole what soldiers were supposed to get during the war and makes money on it,” the author of the video emotionally comments. “Our boys are dying, pensioners are giving away their pensions, and some rat from the rear stole it and sent it here.”
Local authorities reacted promptly. As reported in the Telegram channel of the Shamilsky District Administration, the owner of the car was searched at night, several cans were seized and statements were taken. As it turned out, the inscription "Not for sale" is just a marketing ploy by the manufacturer of ordinary stewed meat, which can be purchased in any marketplace. Nevertheless, the man was held accountable for unauthorized trade in the center of the village of Khebda.
Law enforcement officers also found the woman who filmed the video. She turned out to be not a "Russian tourist", but a native of the district, who had lived in Crimea for a long time and came to visit relatives.
A video was posted on the administration's social networks, where this woman explains what happened, clearly reading the text that is shown to her off-screen: "The district administration and the police promptly carried out work on this fact ..." The video ends with her apologies: "My statement contained words that offended my fellow countrymen, for which I ask their forgiveness." The municipal authorities, taking advantage of the opportunity, reported that the municipal fund of the Shamilsky district "Everything for the front - everything for Victory" has been created, which provides support to the servicemen of the SVO and their families. "At the moment, thanks to the responsiveness and active support of the district population, over 1.8 million rubles have been collected. The dispatch of essential goods to the front has already been organized 5 times, assistance has been provided to the families of mobilized soldiers, volunteers, wounded soldiers and contract soldiers many times." As noted in Dagestani publics, the scandal showed that "there is a high demand for justice in society." But, as evidenced by heated discussions on social networks, there is also a high demand for searching for "looters", "traitors" and "enemies of the people." The publication "Kavkaz.Realii" notes that the practice of public video apologies began in Chechnya. Because of this, the state television and radio company "Grozny" in Chechnya began to be jokingly called "Sorry-TV". However, this practice of the Chechen leadership to convincingly persuade the “guilty” to repent and make public apologies has been successfully borrowed and is widely spread in neighboring and remote regions of Russia.