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Anar Mamedli, the head of the Centre for Election Monitoring and Democracy Training (CEMDT), is one of three nominees for the 2014 human rights award named after Vaclav Havel, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the press service of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

Today, in Yerevan, the first-instance court has rejected the petition lodged by the advocate Ara Zakaryan on changing the freedom restrain measure of his clients – Armen Ovannisyan and Tigran Petrosyan, participants of the protest action named "Million Mask March", who had been accused of hooliganism, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The contract servicemen, who were announced as perished at the firing range in the Rostov Region, in fact fought in the territory of Ukraine, said Lyudmila Bogatenkova, the head of the committee "Mothers of Prikumye". The "Mothers of Prikumye" have at their disposal a list of lost and wounded soldiers with indication of their names, surnames, patronymics and military ranks, Lyudmila Bogatenkova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Today, the Kirov District Court of Astrakhan has pronounced the decision to suspend the criminal proceedings in the criminal case against Mikhail Stolyarov, the Mayor of Astrakhan, suspended from office, since he required hospitalization.

According to the Information Centre of the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC), in Dagestan, in a shootout with power agents a local resident was killed, who was involved in the deaths of OMON (riot police) fighters near the village of Shaitli in December 2013. He was identified as Magomed Rasulov, an active member of the "Tsuntin" militant grouping, NAC informs.

On August 23, 18 families of refugees from the ChechenRepublic, who have been living in temporary accommodation centres (TACs) in Ingushetia for 20 years, are provided with comfortable apartments in the city of Grozny. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Isa Askhabov, the head of the Department of Housing and Communal Services of the Grozny city administration.

Activists of the network of public organization "Republic is a common cause" have expressed their concern over the fate of the Gedmishkh Waterfall, which can disappear as a result of the construction of water pipeline. On August 23, the activists organized a trip to the Zolskoe District of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) to investigate the situation on site.

Igor Siskevich, a resident of Sochi, has spent more than one month at a pre-trial detention facility in Ukraine. He has managed to return home after an exchange of prisoners of war (POWs) and detainees had been conducted, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports. The local office of the Communist Party of Russia held a press conference in connection with the return of Igor Siskevich.

In the Bryukhovetskaya District of the Krasnodar Territory, an ambulance doctor has been fined by the court for storing in the desktop and offering for reading a book of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory reports. The information-analytical centre "SOVA" treated the court decision as religious discrimination.

Today, experts of the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia have left for Ukraine to address the issue to provide humanitarian assistance to the country, stated David Sergeenko, the Georgian Minister of Health. In particular, Georgian doctors are to help in providing medical treatment to the wounded persons in Donbas.

On August 25, the Predgorny District Court of the Stavropol Territory dismissed all the petitions, demanding to change the measure of restraint and disqualify the judge, lodged by the advocates of Kurman-Ali Baichorov, the Imam of Kislovodsk, accused of drug storage. This was reported by Alaudi Musaev, one of the advocates.

Experts are sceptical about any reforms in Abkhazia after the election of Raul Khajimba as a new President. They suggest that the "discriminatory treatment" of ethnic Georgians, who live in the Gali and Tkvarcheli Districts of Abkhazia, will continue.

As reported by the Security Service of Ukraine (known as SBU), on August 24 they detained 10 Russian paratroopers, who got to Ukraine across the border with the Rostov Region. The paratroopers were surrounded up and captured.

Anar Gasymly, the advocate of the rights defender Intigam Aliev, who is kept in SIZO (pre-trial prison), complains that the administration of the facility violates the privacy of his correspondence with his client.

In North Ossetia, the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) has appealed to the public with request to help the family members of murdered Imam Rasul Gamzatov. The Imam left five children, and his wife is waiting for the birth of the sixth child; however, the family does not have own housing.

Last night, in the Kizilyurt District of Dagestan, a shootout occurred. As a result, law enforcers killed two suspected militants, stated a source in the law enforcement bodies. None of the law enforcers was injured, the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs says.

In Armenia, the Yazidi National Association "Sinjar" and the Yazidi National Committee have raised 10,000 US dollars to help the Yazidis of northern Iraq, who suffered from clashes with radical groupings, the public organizations report.

According to the Presidential Council for Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights (HRC), in the Rostov Region, nine soldiers perished in the vicinities of the military training ground. So far, no official confirmation of the information about the soldiers' deaths is available.

A delegation of public figures from Crimea has visited the North-Caucasian republics during the visit organized by the Russian Congress of the Peoples of the Caucasus (RCPC) and the "Altair" Foundation. Within the period of August 15-20, the delegation visited Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan.

The Government of the United States does not recognize the presidential election in Abkhazia, since the United States consider it to be part of Georgia, said Jen Psaki, the Spokesperson for the US Department of State. The United States still consider Abkhazia as a part of Georgia and urge Russia to withdraw "its forces to pre-conflict positions" of 2008.