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A reform of the system of Islamic education was the major topic of debates at the International Islamic Forum held in Moscow. The issue was raised on setting up an academy to unite the existing Islamic Universities, said Khadjimurat Gatsalov, the Mufti of North Ossetia.

The ignition that occurred in the residential building in Grozny, where the office of the Joint Mobile Group of the Committee against Torture (CaT) is located, is liquidated, said the Chechen Ministry for Emergencies (MfE); nobody suffered.

The members of the mobile group of the Committee against Torture (CaT) of Chechnya, working in the republic, were followed by unidentified armed men, said a source from the committee.

On Saturday, December 13, a rally against terrorism was held in the Chechen capital. The police said that 50,000 took part in the event.

A man from North Ossetia and a woman from Kabardino-Balkaria, delivered on December 12 to the Basmanny ROVD (District Interior Division) of Moscow after they tried to buy foreign currency at one of local banks report restriction of their rights and interrogation without reason by agents of the FSB and the Centre to Combat Extremism of the Moscow GUVD (Chief Interior Department).

The Federal Court of Sochi has upheld the decision of the magistrate court in the case of Alexei Kolyasnikov, the leader of a religious group "Community of Christians", who was found guilty of holding an unsanctioned meeting in a cafe.

On December 9-11, Chechnya saw at least two cases of detention of young people by power agents, as reported by residents of the city of Argun and the dwelling settlement of Avtury of the Shali District of the republic. The Chechen MIA claimed that for the last few days there were no complaints from citizens about any kidnappings of their relatives.

A teenager named Magomed Daurbekov disappeared in the Ingush city of Karabulak on his way to school; the family cannot find him for the fifth day.

On December 12, the court session on the criminal case against Abdulaziz Abdurakhmanov, a resident of the village of Chirkei, Buynaksk District of Dagestan, accused of premeditated murder of his cousin, two witnesses were interrogated. The district policeman gave a negative characteristic on the defendant.

The key problem of non-profit organizations (NPOs) of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) is the absence of active cooperation with the authorities; and the parties shall endeavour to set up such partnership. This was the opinion of NPO activists-participants of the roundtable, which was held on the topic of settling conflicts in Northern Caucasus.

The arrested Azerbaijani rights defender Rasul Djafarov has been charged with a forgery and a large-scale embezzlement. He rejects all the new charges and treats them as politically motivated.

In the course of a special operation conducted in the village of Gurbuki, Karabudakhkent District of Dagestan, the leader of one of militant groupings was killed, said the Russia's National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC).

The statement of the Chechen leadership about the collective responsibility of militants and the subsequent burning down of relatives' houses are contradictory to Russian law and can recruit new militants in the republic and abroad. This was stated by rights defenders during a press conference on the topic "Collective punishment as a method of dealing with armed underground in Chechnya".

The defence of the arrested Azerbaijani rights defender Leyla Yunus states an aggravation of her custody conditions and continued health problems; however, bosses of the Penitentiary Service refute these facts.

In Armenia, a forensic examination found a brain concussion in the oppositional MP Aram Manukyan; the parliamentarian himself told reporters.

Five militants have been killed today during a special operation in the village of Gurbuki, Karabudakhkent district of Dagestan, said the Russia's National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC).

The employees of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), who were lost in a special operation in Grozny on December 4, are presented to state awards. Their families will receive help, and, inter alia, since January 1 they will receive all the municipal utilities free of charge.

The residents of the city of Akhalkalaki, who had reported about beatings by the police after their arrest on December 3, did not file a complaint, said the Ombudsman's Office of Georgia. The statements of the victims and their relatives were not confirmed, Samvel Petrosyan, an MP from Akhalkalaki, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Activists of the Charity Fund "Chistoe Serdtse" have visited the Dagestani settlement of Vremenny to deliver humanitarian help to its residents. Locals received warm clothes and food packages.

The Azerbaijani rights defender Leyla Yunus, placed in custody on charges of treason, has been nominated for the International Award "To Women for Courage".