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A bridge across the Yassa (Aksay) River is being built in the mountainous Vedeno District of Chechnya, near the village of Dargo. The old bridge was destroyed in the course of the first military campaign in the country, said the Ministry of Motor Roads of Chechnya. The commissioning of the new bridge is scheduled for 2013.

Five Circassians-refugees from Syria have been deported to Jordan from the Moscow Airport "Domodedovo".

At the Moscow City Court (MCC), where today the trial on the murder of Colonel Yuri Budanov was continued, the advocate of the defendant Yusup Temerkhanov has reported about an incident in Chechnya, which was treated by him as an act of intimidation intended to press the relatives of his client and the defendant himself.

As reported by the information centre of the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC), the death toll of the special operation conducted on December 19 in Nazran included two militant leaders Ayub Kholadov and Movsar Katsiev, and a militant Khamzat Pugoev from Katsiev's grouping.

On December 19, in the Georgian city of Zugdidi, street vendors blocked the road in front of the Central Marketplace. Later, they tried to do the same in front of the House of Justice, but the police demanded the free the roadway.

Thirty-five journalists of Armenian mass media wrote an open letter to the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Ovik Abramyan with a demand to give a political assessment of the incident that occurred on December 19 at the National Assembly.

On December, 18, European Court of Human Rights considered the case “Aslakhanov and others vs. Russian Federation” and obliged Russia to pay 550 thousand euros to the families of eight residents of Chechnya who disappeared in the first half of the 2000-s. The court took side with the claimants who stated that their relatives were kidnapped by representatives of Russian power ministries.

During a regular meeting in Ergneti within the framework of Mechanism for prevention of incidents and response to them (MPRI) on December, 19, South-Ossetian party released Georgian citizen Givi Chkikvadze.

26 convicts of prison No 9 of Tbilisi started a hunger strike in support of the people removed from the list of political prisoners, Press Service of the “Georgian party” reported.

Today the attorneys of the defendants on the case of attempt of blasting “Sapsan” train appealed against the verdict of judge Andrey Rasnovsky of Moscow city court who acknowledged four defendants guilty and sentenced them to 14 to 17 years of custody in a strict regime colony.

Relatives of Marat Gunashev, anaesthetist detained for suspicion of involvement in murder of Ahmed Magomedov, Chief of the Department of Interior Affairs of Makhachkala, appealed to Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika asking to look into the matter.

Attorneys and relatives of Ahmedkhan Aushev, Zurab Didigov and Bashir Mislaurov in Ingushetia report investigation’s unlawful actions and inaction of Public Prosecutor’s office. The lawyers state impossibility to meet with their clients and the defendants’ relatives fear that they are tortured. Representatives of the investigation decline comment.

Resident of the settlement of Novy Khushet Karimulla Abdulkhalikov reported refusal to allow him take the body of his son Kamil Abdulkhalikov killed on December, 16, in Kaspiysk from the morgue of Makhachkala.

Today witnesses for the prosecution, law enforcement officers Koltsov and Dyatlov who carried out search in defendant Yusup Temerkhanov’s house in Chechnya, evidenced at the trial on the case of ex-colonel Yuri Budanov’s murder.

Participants of an action of protest in Kutaisi with the demand of Mikhail Saakashvili’s resignation pelted the President’s cortège with stones and blocked the building where Head of the state was.

Committee of Inquiry initiated three criminal cases of newborn babies’ death in the maternity hospital of Pyatigorsk.

After a five-hour interrogation in the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, Alexander Khetaguri, ex-Minister of Finance and Energetics, Nika Gvaramia, ex-Minister of Education and Justice, presently Director General of “Rustavi-2”, Kakha Damenia, ex-Deputy Minister of Economy, Devi Kandelaki, Director General of “Telasi” stock-company, and two more high-ranking officials were detained.

A criminal case under five articles against Araz Guliev, the editor-in-chief of the online religious edition xeber44.com, which was transferred to the Lankoran Court of Grave Crimes, has to do with Guliev's journalism and his coverage of believers' protest against the ban on hijabs (headscarves) in schools of Azerbaijan, Azer Guliev, Araz's brother is confident.

Librarians of Tbilisi demand from the city Mayoralty to preserve the Georgia's library network.

Today, the Rostov Regional Court will continue hearing of the case of 17 members of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, accused and suspected of extremism. The Court must decide whether the indictment of two believers of this group was legal. The charge of extremism earlier presented to 14 believers has been already declared illegal by the court.