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On May 23, in Baku, Azerbaijani law enforcers held a search of the flat of the elderly parents of journalist Rauf Mirkadirov, who is accused of treason. The search was conducted without the presence of Mirkadirov's advocates, said one of them – Fuad Agaev.

Azerbaijani authorities shall immediately release Ilgar Mamedov, the leader of the civil movement "Republican Alternative" (ReAl), convicted on charges of organizing riots in the city of Ismailly, from prison, who was, said Anne Brasseur, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), who is on her visit to Baku.

The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow has obliged the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" to get registered as a foreign agent. Thus, the complaint lodged by rights defenders against the respective demand of the prosecutor's office was rejected.

Timur Kuashev, a Circassian activist, rights defender and journalist, has turned to the Prosecutor's Office and the Investigating Department for the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), demanding to prosecute the policemen who had detained him for several hours on the day of the march held on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the end of the Caucasian War.

A source from the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) has informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that in the course of a special operation held on Friday, May 23, in the city of Baksan in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), apart from four suspected militants, an FSB officer was killed.

An armed skirmish burst out in the Sunzha District of Ingushetia, during which several people suffered. One of them, Magomed Evloev, an employee of a Private Security Agency (PSA), died in hospital, said the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Ingushetia.

The decision to establish self-defence units was made at a rally on May 22 by residents of the village of Sogratl, Gunib District of Dagestan. The units will reveal persons involved or helping the activities of illegal armed formations (IAF).

The woman is registered as an adherent of the radical trend of Islam; however, there are no specific claims to Isaeva, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed at the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

On May 22, the Khosta District Court of Sochi postponed the consideration of the lawsuit on protection of honour, dignity and business reputation of the Khosta ROVD (District Interior Division) to the human rights activist Roman Shikarev. Due to change of claims, the hearing will start anew on May 28.

In general, Azerbaijani experts are positively treating the idea of settling the Karabakh conflict, put forward in the statement of James Warlick, the American co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. The official Baku agrees with the Warlick's proposals, although the principles themselves had been voiced earlier, said Elmar Mamedyarov, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister.

The Shirvan Court of Appeal (CoA) of Azerbaijan has dismissed the complaint against the arrest of Emil Mamedov, the head of the NGO "Promoting Democracy", accused of extortion. His defence intends to petition for replacement of arrest for a more lenient restriction measure.

The verdict to Zarema Bagavutdinova, an activist of the Dagestani Regional Public Organization (DRPO) "Pravozaschita" (Advocacy), convicted to five years in prison on charges of promoting terrorist activities, is unjust and politically motivated, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" reports.

The Supreme Court of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) has sentenced four local residents, accused of organizing an illegal armed formation (IAF) and participating thereof, to the terms from two to eight years in prison.

In Azerbaijan, on May 22, at the trial of Abdul Abilov, the creator of the group "Stop toadies!" on the Facebook, accused of drug dealing, the closing floor was given to the state prosecutor. He asked the court to find Abilov guilty under Article 234.4.3 (illegal large-scale possession or sale of drugs) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan and sentenced him to 6.5 years in prison.

The materials about forced disappearances of six persons in Chechnya in 2001 include the name of Igor Strelkov, a Russian officer, who was put on the wanted list by the Ukrainian authorities. This was reported by Alexander Cherkasov, Chairman of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

On May 21, in Rostov-on-Don, the North-Caucasian District Military Court held the session to consider the case against Said Amirov, the former mayor of Makhachkala suspended from office, and his nephew Yusup Djaparov, both of whom were accused of plotting a terror act. At the session, the Court listened to the first seven witnesses of defence.

Four railway echelons and 15 IL-76 aircrafts were involved in sending military units that completed manoeuvres on training grounds located near the border with Ukraine to the places of their permanent deployment. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Russian Federation.

On May 20 and 21, the southern regions of Russia, Abkhazia and Georgia, and Moscow hosted events dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the end of the Caucasian War. The events included rallies, marches, artistic exhibitions and book presentations. The participants of the actions commemorated the casualties with a minute of silence and lit candles.

Upon presentation of the Prosecutor's Office, the Krasnodar Territorial Court may rule to soften the punishment on the criminal case against the ecologist Evgeny Vitishko, the experts questioned by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent believe. In their opinion, the change of the prosecutors' position may have to do with the public resonance, which was caused by the replacement of the conditional term of the ecologist by the real imprisonment.

As reported by Umalat Gadiev, Deputy Director of the E. I. Krupnov Republic's Archaeological Centre, a cave was discovered in the Djeirakh District of Ingushetia, which may be the burial vault of the Georgian Queen Tamara, who lived in the 12th century.