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The Prosecutor's Office cancelled the decision to close a case on torture by law enforcers of Yevgeny Bunin, a resident of the Tuapse District, and entrusted the case to another investigator, reported the Committee Against Torture (CaT). The human rights defenders express the hope that the new investigation will be effective.

Doubts voiced by film director Alexander Sokurov concerning whether Akhmat and Ramzan Kadyrov deserved the title of Hero of Russia provoked a harsh reaction from subordinates of the Chechen leader, and the film director entered the list of people who dared to criticize Ramzan Kadyrov directly.

Mustafa Vyshegurov, a participant of a March rally in Magas, has stopped accepting food since today in protest against the conditions of detention at the Pyatigorsk SIZO (pre-trial prison) and the demand to shave his beard. The court extended his arrest until March 11.

On December 18, the presidential envoy to the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) handed over to Ramzan Kadyrov a gratitude letter from Vladimir Putin "for active participation in public and political life." The gratitude was announced back in April. The leader of Chechnya got the Russian President's encouragement amid a public discussion with film director Alexander Sokurov concerning whether Ramzan Kadyrov deserved the title of Hero of Russia.

During the investigation into a criminal case, instituted on the fact of the embezzlement of state funds on an especially large scale, an arrest was imposed on the property of Serzh Sargsyan, the third president of Armenia, and Barseg Beglaryan, the president of the "Flash" Company.

In Volgograd, members of the Communist Party announced the erection on December 21 of a monument to Joseph Stalin. Many Facebook users criticized the idea, but some of them expressed their support to the idea.

Several protest actions were held in Tbilisi after it became known about a teenager's suicide. The protesters assert that authorities should be held accountable for what has happened.

The Saint Petersburg blogger Elvin Isaev, who was deported from Ukraine to Azerbaijan, is accused of anti-state calls for "mass riots". The advocate, hired by his relatives, has stated that the investigating body is protracting with his access to the client; therefore, the advocate doubts the objectivity of the inquiry.

Magomed Basnukaev and Khalimat Tepsurkaeva, students of the College of Culture and Arts, have been expelled from the college after re-singing "Propaganda", a composition by rapper Miyagi. The college bosses have explained the expulsion by a ban on video filming in the building.

Aina Getagazova performed the song "Nokhchiy Pachchakh" ("Chechen Padishah") during her solo concert in Grozny. Ramzan Kadyrov was present in person at the concert. Prior to performing the song, Getagazova announced that she dedicated the song to Kadyrov.

During the war in Chechnya, direct communication was maintained of Boris Yeltsin and Djokhar Dudaev; and the Kremlin ensured the Ichkeria* president's freedom of travel, Ruslan Alkhanov, the head of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), said in his interview with the RBC (RosBusinessConsulting).

On December 17, Sakhab Zakriev, the former chief of the Migration Department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Chechnya, who is a brother of a husband of a Ramzan Kadyrov's sister, was approved by delegates of the Gudermes District as the head of the local administration.

On December 17, participants of protests in front of the Georgian parliament building were fined for petty hooliganism and rendering resistance to the police, while the fourth detainee was acquitted by the court. The activists expressed their indignation about large amounts of fines.

One of the diplomats declared by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) as persona non grata after the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin was an agent of the Russian secret services, foreign editions Bild and Bellingcat report.

Like Tumso Abdurakhmanov, blogger Islam Nukhanov was prosecuted in Chechnya after he had made an attempt to raise a socially significant problem, noted Elena Milashina, a journalist of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta".

The Russian authorities sought an accelerated deportation of Saint Petersburg blogger Elvin Isaev, and the unusual procedure of deportation from Ukraine to Baku may indicate the involvement of secret services. This was reported to the "Caucasian Knot" by members of the Kharkov human rights group and advocates from the "Migration and Law" human rights network, who were engaged in the Elvin Isaev's case.

Gora Garibashvili, detained on the border with South Ossetia, was released, the Georgian State Security Service reported on December 17.

In order to stop soldiers' suicides in Armenia, it is necessary to force officers to bear responsibility for hazing, increase the number of women in the army and create a monitoring group to monitor the situation, the human rights defender interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have noted.

The disappearance of Mairbek Amaev, a Grozny resident, cannot be unambiguously qualified as a kidnapping, but this incident is typical of Chechnya, the human rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have noted.

Ramzan Kadyrov and Djambulat Umarov claim that Alexander Sokurov said about the Chechen people; however, such words were not present in his interview. Sokurov's words referred only to Chechen leaders, netizens (social network users) have indicated.