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The positions of the Azerbaijani army in the Karabakh conflict zone were fired from machine guns, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan reports today.

On the day of the explosion on the outskirts of Tbilisi, tenants of a nine-storey building several times called the emergency service because of the smell of gas at the block. However, officers of the emergency service did not detect any gas leak.

On January 17, the Russian Supreme Court (SC) refused to toughen the sentence to Victoria Budaikhanova, a native of Dagestan, sentenced to a conditional imprisonment after her return from Syria.

The European Parliament has called on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release the blogger Mekhman Guseinov, as well as other detained activists and journalists, the resolution said on January 17.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has quickly responded to the complaint of the defence of Samvel Mairapetyan, the owner of the N2 TV Channel against the ban on his travel abroad. The ECtHR believes that the authorities should allow the businessman to go to Germany for medical treatment, said his advocate.

A court in Baku has imposed administrative penalties on five members of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) – on December 16, two activists were sentenced to 20 days' arrest and three others were fined.

The federal authorities have failed to stop the persecutions of the employees of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", launched by the Chechen authorities, and left without reaction the violation of LGBTs' rights in the republic, the annual report of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) asserts.

The primary task of the federal centre of Dagestan is not the fight against corruption, but to control the region under the budget deficit and increasing foreign policy pressure, as well as ensuring the local population's loyalty, the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

Today, at the office of the "Musavat" Party, five oppositionists have continued their hunger strike with the demand to release blogger Mekhman Guseinov and other political prisoners. Some political prisoners continue the hunger strike in penal colonies and SIZOs (pre-trial prisons), their relatives report.

In accordance with the court decision, the "Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Grozny" Company is to write off more than nine billion roubles from debtors. Attempts to secure payments of debts created social tensions, the Prosecutor's Office for Chechnya reports.

Pavel Grib does not complain about the conditions of detention at the Rostov SIZO (pre-trial prison), and his health state does not prevent him from being under arrest, reports today the chairman of the Public Observation Commission (POC) for the Rostov Region.

A free excursion to the Galanchozh District is scheduled for January 26, and any citizen of Chechnya can take part in it, reports the spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism for Chechnya. The initiative was announced after Ingush activists had voiced a call to abandon the resettlement of Chechen residents to the above territory.

In Tbilisi, a child and two adults hospitalized after an explosion in a multi-storey building continue receiving medical treatment in hospitals. The child's condition is assessed as satisfactory, doctors report today.

Positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces were shelled 29 times over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan reported.

On January 16, the "Russian Community of Abkhazia" issued a statement in connection with the aggravation of the criminal situation and resonant crimes against Russian citizens committed in Abkhazia over the past several days. The public association called on the authorities to take measures to catch the criminals.

A total of 130 families have been resettled to Dagestan from the villages of Khrakh-Uba and Uryan-Uba, located in Azerbaijan. Initially, it was planned to resettle 138 families, but, according to Sergey Chebotaryov, the Minister of the Russian Federation for the North-Caucasian Matters, some families refused to move, or received housing as military servicemen.

The movie "Russian Boy" by Alexander Zolotukhin, a filmmaker from the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), telling about the events of the First World War, will be screened at the Berlin International Film Festival.

International organizations have no efficient instruments to influence Russia in connection with human rights violations in Chechnya, the rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

Investigators have unreasonably closed the case of beatings at a sitting of the Council of Elders of Yerevan, said Sona Agekyan, an activist of the "Apricot Country" Party. Another participant of the incident, Marina Khachatryan, said that she forgave the offenders.

A domestic gas explosion occurred on January 16 at about 8:20 p.m. in a nine-storey building in the Didi Digomi District in the outskirt of Tbilisi.