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On the Christmas Eve, tens of thousands of residents of the Southern Federal District (SFD) and the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) visited solemn worship services at Orthodox churches. In many cities of the south of Russia, the celebrations were continued with mass festivities, entertainments, concerts, and sporting events.

At night on January 7, the temporary memorial, created of flowers, wreaths and candles in memory of the victims of the aircraft crash near Sochi was removed by the staff of the "Mayak" Beach and workers engaged in paving the seafront promenade. People continue bringing flowers to the site of the memorial and throw them into the sea.

The attack on Nika Gvaramiya, Director General of the "Rustavi-2" TV Company, was committed in one of the restaurants in the capital of Georgia. The victim said that he lost consciousness from the blow on his head.

Rufat Safarov, a former investigator, convicted for bribe-taking, has been transferred from SIZO (pre-trial prison) to Colony No. 9 inAzerbaijan. There is no more threat to his safety, his advocate said.

Protests of Kuban farmers and miners in Rostov Region; disappointment in the Governor at the background of social problems in Volgograd Region; abolition of direct election of head of Adygea; interethnic conflict in Kalmykia; pressure on Circassian activists and environmentalists, – these and other events marked 2016 in the Southern Federal District (SFD) of Russia.

In 2016, the influence of the Chechen leadership on Diaspora members in 2016 grew stronger due to the use of the collective responsibility method, rights defenders told the "Caucasian Knot". According to their version, refugees never forget that their relatives are still in Chechnya and may be exposed to pressure.

At night on January 7, the Azerbaijani Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas; liturgies were served in three churches in Baku, and churches in Ganja and Khachmaz.

The last one out of the detained relatives of the young people killed in the counterterrorist operation (CTO) conducted in Grozny was released from police on January 5; thus, all the relatives are back at large.

Court marshals have used force while separating a ten-year girl with her aunt, who had brought her up in the Guba District, which violated the girl's rights, said the Ombudsperson of Azerbaijan.

In Baku, a group of citizens has held a protest action with complaints about the judicial decisions, by which they had been subjected to illegal arrests and deprived of their property.

A resident of Krasnodar was found dead in the passage under the central street of Krasnodar. The investigators have established that he fired several shots at his girlfriend, and then committed suicide.

Today, Bagrat Musaev Magomed Gadjiev, members of the Public Oversight Commission (POC) of Dagestan could not hold inspection of SIZO (pre-trial prison) No. 1 of Makhachkala. The local department of the Russian Penitentiary Service (know as FSIN) has explained the non-admission by "regime activities."

The Nasimi District Court of Baku has extended until March 12 the detention of oppositionists Faig Amirov and Fuad Akhmedli. Their defence has announced its intention to lodge an appeal and challenge the arrest at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

Today, the Tbilisi Court of Appeal (CoA) has reclassified the charge of Gigi Ugulava, the former Mayor of the capital of Georgia, from embezzlement into abuse of office and sentenced him to 1 year, 3 months and 22 days in jail. Tonight, Gigi Ugulava has left the jail building.

Policemen have released the mother and four relatives of Jamal Ali, the author of the song criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities, after asking them to influence the rapper, so that he no longer admit insults. The musician himself has reported this.

Three former employees of the Department of Constitutional Security of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), arrested for videoing private life of a number of Georgian politicians, have been released after expiry of the term of pre-trial detention.

The mother and several relatives of the Azerbaijani rapper Jamal Ali, who is in political emigration in Germany, are questioned by law enforcers, who demand from the musician to remove from the Internet the video clip "Grandpa Monument", which contains criticism of the Azerbaijani authorities. The rapper wrote about it in his Facebook profile.

Veniamin Kondratiev, the Governor of the Krasnodar Territory, has called, within the visit of the Premier Dmitri Medvedev, at a sitting on tourism industry, on local businessmen to make price rates of vacations in Sochi more affordable.

Residents of the Ingush village of Nesterovskoe have held a rally and stated that the members of the family of Rizvan Kotiev, a suspect of killing the journalist Amerkhan Kokurkhoev, must change their residence in order to avoid conflicts. This was reported by an official of the administration.

One of the main events of 2016 in Armenia was the four-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh, which revealed gaps in Armenia's policy and the country's security, believes Ruben Megrabyan, a political scientist and an expert of the Centre for Political and International Studies.