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Oleg Shein, the former candidate for the position of Mayor of Astrakhan, received the decisions of the Trusov and Kirov District Courts, pronouncing full dismissal of the claims for cancellation of the election, held on March 4.

The Media Rights Institute (MRI) disseminated the report on the situation inAzerbaijanwith the freedom of expression in the first half of 2012, which indicated the deterioration of the situation in that sphere. Among the evidence of negative trends, the report mentions growing number of imprisoned journalists, introduction of restrictive amendments to the legislation, increase of the facts of physical and psychological pressure on journalists.

The decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of theRepublicofKalmykiaobliged the Republic's Children's Hospital to pay to parents of children, who in 1988 were infected with HIV, 300,000 roubles in compensation for moral damage.

The Parliament of Georgia does not intend to extend the period of the mandatory inclusion of news programmes of the Georgian TV Companies to a package, offered to TV viewers by cable TV operators. This was announced by David Bakradze, Speaker of the Parliament. He has noted that the state cannot constantly intervene in private business.

In the flat region of the Shelkovskaya District of Chechnya, about 6000 hectares of farmland are affected by plagues of locusts. A motor delta plane is mobilized for control of pests of the farmland.

The first court session on the merits against Rasul Mirzaev, World Champion in Mixed Martial Arts, after whose strike Ivan Agafonov, a 19-year-old Moscow resident, died, is scheduled for July 25, and it will question the victims Tatiana and Alexander Agafonov. The parents of the deceased young man gave testimonies during the preliminary investigation, and then they would voice their position in the courtroom. They did not accept Rasul Mirzaev's apologies and did not change their attitude to the case. This was stated by Oksana Mikhalkina, the representative of the parents of the deceased young man.

This morning, inKrasnodar, in front of the Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN) in theKrasnodarTerritory, representatives of the public organization "Prostye Lyudi" (Ordinary People), held a picket to support Pavel Cherevatov, the head of the Abinsk Human Rights Centre, who was serving his sentence. The participants of the protest action were met by representatives of the Regional FSIN Department, including Yuri Kulik, Chief of the Regional FSIN Department.

Beskhanum Gasanova, the resident of thevillage of Chernyaevka of the Kizlyar District, the mother of Shakhban Gasanov, who on July 21 was detained by local law enforcement agents for possession of weapons, appealed to the public organization "Pravozaschita" (Advocacy) and asked to protect her family from persecution of power agents. According to a source at the ROVD (District Interior Division) of the Kizlyar District, Shakhban Gasanov is a member of the armed group.

Last week, from July 16 to July 22, 2012, at least 21 persons suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. These are the results of calculations of the "Caucasian Knot" based on own materials of the edition and information from other open sources. Of them, 12 persons perished and 9 more were wounded.

Zaur Djalilov, an employee of the Akhvakh ROVD (District Interior Division), who is accused of murdering Imadibir Makhiev, 16, an 11th form pupil from the village of Karata, Akhvakh District, was suspended from his work for the period of investigation.

The court in Yerevan has dismissed a complaint lodged by the advocate of Vardan Oskanyan, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and the founder of the "Civilitas" Foundation, against the decision of the National Security Service (NSS) to initiate a criminal case against the Foundation.

On July 22, two out of three candidates, who ran for the Chlous constituency No. 26 in the Ochamchira District of Abkhazia, won most of the votes and passed over to the second round, namely: the businessman Beslan Butba, the leader of the Party of Economic Development of Abkhazia; and Beslan Tarba, the deputy head of the State Administration of Abkhazia for Transports and Communications.

The main motive for the crimes committed by Sergey Tsapok and members of his gang in the village of Kuschevskaya, Krasnodar Territory, was revenge. This was announced today at a press conference in Rostov-on-Don by officials of the Department for the Southern Federal District (SFD) of the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO). The case of crimes committed by the gang, including the massacre committed in Ametov's house, will be considered by the Krasnodar Territorial Court with participation of a jury.

The investigation examines several versions within the criminal case on the mass brawl in Kislovodsk; however, inspectors see no motives of nationalistic or religious hatred, reports the Investigatory Department for the Stavropol Territory of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

Zaur Dzeitov, an officer of Ingush police, sent on a mission to Chechnya, has disappeared under mysterious circumstances in Grozny. This was reported by his relatives, who turned to one of Chechen public organizations.

On July 21, in the house of Shakhban Gasanov, a resident of the village of Chernyaevka, Kizlyar District of Dagestan, who was detained on suspicion of involvement in the armed underground, power agents found weapons. Gasanov's relatives assert that they were planted.

The ruling Georgian party "United National Movement" has stated that it will conclude an agreement with every Georgian family on fulfilment of promises within the governmental programme "More Good to People". The opposition urges the population not to support the initiative.

All the life support systems in the city of Krymsk, affected by flood, operate in the normal mode, Colonel-General Yuri Kovalyov, Director of the Department for Regional Policy of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE), said on July 21. Volunteers disagree with the statement.

Representatives of the coalition of the businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili "Georgian Dream" have sent a request to the inter-branch commission for monitoring the elections to recheck the case of the activists of the coalition, who had been sentenced to 15 days in jail on charges of involvement in the riots that burst out in the village of Karaleti.

Magomed Sulaev, a resident of Dagestan, who was detained on July 20 and whose relatives said that he had been kidnapped by unidentified persons, was found at the Khasavyurt ROVD (District Interior Division) and released. Mr Sulaev told his advocate that Anvar Guseinov, who was detained together with him, was severely beaten.