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Today, on March 8, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has issued a statement with comments on the recent releases of the women from the list of political prisoners compiled by the HRC. In particular, rights defenders have supported the pardoning of the resident of Sochi Oksana Sevastidi.

In Georgia, women face obstacles in career growth. This opinion was voiced by female participants of the action "Break the glass ceiling", held today in Tbilisi.

In the evening of March 7, before leaving for Turkey from the Heydar Aliev Airport in Baku, Mekhriban Vezir, the leader of the Centre for Political Culture of Azerbaijani Women, was detained when she was passing the border control. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by the activist herself.

On March 6, in the Krasnodar residential district of Hydraulic Engineers, a dry cane caught fire on the territory of the Pavlovsky flooded area in the floodplain zone of the KubanRiver. The major part of the territory is supposed to be allocated for construction of multi-storey buildings, the "Ecological Watch on Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch) reports.

The Khasavyurt City Court has sentenced Magomedrasul Magomedov, a brother of advocate Sapiyat Magomedova, to four years of conditional imprisonment on the charge of committing a rape. The advocate has announced her intention to appeal against the verdict and to file complaint against the judge and the investigator in charge for the case.

The North-Caucasian District Military Court considers a case against Arthur Panov, a 19-year-old resident of the town of Krasnodon of the Lugansk Region of Ukraine, and Maxim Smyshlyaev, a resident of Rostov, accused of plotting a terror act. At the trial, Arthur Panov has admitted his guilt in manufacturing and storing of an explosive device and, in part, in plotting of a terror act.

Today, seven employees of the local department of the Russian Penitentiary Service (known as the UFSIN) has stated their non-involvement in the death of the inmate Dmitri Batyrev.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg has indefinitely postponed the enforcement of the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) of Georgia on the case of the “Rustavi-2” TV Company, and started considering its claim.

The successors of the Avetisyan family have repeatedly sent a complaint to the Court of Cassation demanding a new trial in the case on the family massacre in Gyumri. Their advocate Aramazd Kiviryan has stated that the court refuses to consider the successors’ complaint for far-fetched reasons.

Azerbaijan's membership in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) may be suspended, as the country's authorities have failed to fulfil the organization's demand to abolish the state registration of foreign donors and grant agreements, said activists of the NGO Council on increasing transparency in extractive industries.

The human rights organization "Committee for the Prevention of Torture" (CPT) has received the Homo Homini Award for 2016, awarded for one’s significant contribution to the protection of human rights.

The defence of Oksana Sevastidi, a resident of Sochi, convicted on a charge of treason and pardoned today by President of Russia, insists on her complete innocence and will seek a review of the sentence, her advocate Evgeny Smirnov has stated.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on pardoning Oksana Sevastidi, a resident of Sochi, who was sentenced in 2016 on the charge of high treason for sending an SMS to Georgia concerning transportation of military vehicles.

In Rostov-on-Don, at the first court hearing in the case of an attack on soldiers in 2000 in the Argun Gorge, Ayub Tuntuev, a former agent of the security service of the Chechen president, pleaded not guilty. According to the defendant, the case against him was fabricated.

In Rostov-on-Don, at the trial in the case against Abdurakhman Usmanov charged with aiding and abetting militants in Syria, the native of Dagestan has claimed that after his detention he was subjected to torture with water and electric current. He signed a number of protocols included in the case after he could not stand the pain. This was reported by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent from the courtroom.

On March 5, Vyacheslav Bitarov, the leader of North Ossetia, attended the rally held against the renaming of Ingushetia into Alania to prevent escalation. This was reported by the press service of the leader and the government of North Ossetia.

In Dagestan, "immoral films" should not be screened, says the appeal of Magomed Abdurakhmanov, the head of the Dagestani Committee on Freedom of Conscience and Interaction with Religious Organizations, addressed to owners of movie theatres.

Today, the “Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus” (EcoWatch) has reported a receipt of another set of protocols from the Roskomnadzor, stating that the organization had violated the article of the law on the activities of the so-called “foreign agents”. The label of a foreign agent was absent in the press release of the EcoWatch, dedicated to the death of Alexei Yablokov, one of the founders of the Russian national environment-defence movement.

After his release, Arthur Sargsyan, who had been accused of helping members of the "Sasna Tsrer" detachment, was brought to the Yerevan medical centre because of his poor health condition, said his advocate Tigran Egoryan.

Victims of the hostage-taking in the Dubrovka Theatrical Centre have put forward about 20 lawsuits seeking compensation from Khasan Zakaev, said Karinna Moskalenko, the victims’ advocate.