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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.

The General Directorate for Combating Corruption under the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Azerbaijan has launched an investigation against the advocate Shakhla Gumbatova. Gumbatova herself treats it as unjustified.

A court in the Stavropol Territory has ruled to leave Timur Oziev, a rally participant in Magas, in custody until March 4. Oziev has complained that he and three other defendants spent one and a half days during convoying to the court without food and sleep.

The appointment of the Chalaev brothers as heads of Chechen ROVDs (District Interior Divisions) is not connected solely to the fact that they belong to the same teip (Family clan) as Kadyrov, the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

Russian investigators have failed to check statements of Khusein Badurgov's relatives that authorities has been involved in his disappearance in Grozny, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has concluded today, treating the investigation as inefficient. Badurgov's mother was awarded a compensation of 26,000 euros.

Workers of culture and art, like film director Alexander Sokurov, criticized in Chechnya for commenting on the Ramzan Kadyrov's title of Hero of Russia, should voice in public their attitude to controversial political and social issues, human rights defender Svetlana Gannushkina and actress Yuliya Aug believe.

Today, in Rostov-on-Don, the court has extended the term of Anastasia Shevchenko's house arrest until January 18. The activist claims that the pre-trial restriction measure negatively affects her children.

Murat Bekov, Ilez Barakhoev, Vakha and Ruslan Dzeitov, whose interests are represented by lawyers of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", filed complaints to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about violations of the rights to personal integrity, fair trial, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly. This is reported by the HRC "Memorial" on its website on December 16.

At trial, Ismail and Mukhtar Kurbanov from the Kayakent District of Dagestan claimed that they refused defenders during the investigation because of pressure from law enforcers. In Dagestan, investigators resumed a verification of the Kurbanov brothers' complaints of torture.

Shalva Tadumadze, a former Georgian Prosecutor General, appointed a termless Judge of the Supreme Court (SC), has failed to confirm his higher legal education, the coalition "For Independent and Transparent Judiciary" asserts.

The haste and non-transparency of the blogger Elvin Isaev's deportation from Ukraine to Azerbaijan cast doubt on its legitimacy, the Baku rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have noted.

In the Volgograd Region, a prosecutor has demanded long prison terms for several natives of Chechnya, who refuse to plead guilty, a relative of one of the defendants has stated in his video appeal to Ramzan Kadyrov.