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In the Dagestani village of Khadjalmakhi people's militia units are lynching local Salafi Muslims, which demands urgent intervention of the leadership of Dagestan and the General Prosecutor's Office. This was stated on August 26 by activists of human rights organizations in their open letter to the Acting Head of Dagestan and heads of local and federal law enforcement bodies.

Law enforcement bodies of Azerbaijan have put Elshad Abdullaev, the former Rector of the private Azerbaijani International University (AIU), who is now abroad, on the international wanted list. He is accused of trafficking in human organs and abuse of office powers.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of Dagestan that on August 26, one day before the official opening, the exhibition of relics of Prophet Mohammed was visited by more than five thousand people. According to Magomedrasul Omarov, the press secretary of the SAM of Dagestan, the exhibition will last till September 2.

The next session of the court dealing with the case of Alexander Tolmachov, a Rostov journalist and publisher, will take place on August 28. It is expected that the judge will make a decision on the possibility for Tolmachov to go to meet voters as a candidate for Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Rostov Region.

On August 26, residents of Abkhazia marked the five-year anniversary of the recognition day of the independence of their country. As stated by Irakli Khintba, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia, the broadening of the international recognition of the country is one of the key areas of Abkhazian foreign policy.

Today, delegations from the regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), Transnistria, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh came to celebrate the recognition of independence of South Ossetia.

At detention of activists of the "Armenian National Congress" (ANC), now convicted for hooliganism and disobeying the police, law enforcers themselves committed illegal actions, including beating of detainees. This was stated by Sahak Muradyan, an ex-figurant in the case and now a witness, at the session of the Court of Appeal (CoA) of Armenia.

The Moscow-Sukhumi relations are passing through hard times; and this explains the rapid departure of Vladimir Putin from Pitsunda on the eve of the day of international recognition of the republic's independence. This was stated by Alexander Skakov, a researcher at the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies. Abkhazian experts did not support this opinion.

The anti-immigrant campaign launched in Russia has been initiated by federal authorities with the aim to divert public attention from everyday problems and strengthen their political influence, assert the intellectuals questioned by the "Caucasian Knot".

The leader of the oppositional "Musavat" Party Isa Gambar has recalled his candidacy from the presidential race in Azerbaijan at the upcoming October 9 presidential election. He made his decision public today at the sitting of the board of the "Musavat" Party, which has supported the position of its leader.

The Party "Democratic Movement-United Georgia" has nominated its leader, the former Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze as a candidate for the presidency of Georgia at the forth coming October 27 election.

In Azerbaijan, the theologian Talekh Bagirzade, who is kept in the SIZO (pre-trial prison), located in the Baku suburb of Kyurdakhany, has been placed into a punishment cell (dungeon) for three days. This is the theologian's second punishment of this sort since his detention on March 31.

The Moscow City Court has rescheduled the next session on the murder case of the observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" Anna Politkovskaya for September 2, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has reported. The reason for postponement was the sickness of the defendant Djabrail Makhmudov, who is still at Botkin Hospital after his injury.

In the course of the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus, in the period from August 19 to August 25, 2013, at least 18 fell victim; of them, 11 persons were lost, and seven more were wounded. These are the outcomes of the calculations made by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Today, Sochi pupils have started their classes – this early beginning of the school year has to do with the upcoming Winter Olympic Games; however, the traditional "First Ring" will sound for the first-year pupils on September 2, said the Department of Education and Sciences of the Sochi City Administration.

In Volgograd, participants of a rally against increased housing and utility urged to recognize the work of the regional, city and district officials in charge of maintaining order in the communal sphere unsatisfactory and dismiss them.

About three hundred residents of the villages of Tarki, Kyakhulay and Alburikent gathered today at a meeting in Karaman to discuss the situation around the land plots of the Kumtorkalin District and adopt an appeal to the Acting Head of Dagestan.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan has registered the incumbent head of state Ilham Aliev as a presidential candidate for the election to be held on October 9.

The arrest of Yadigyar Sadygov, the adviser to the chairman of opposition "Musavat" Party, has been extended until September 27. This was decided on August 24 by the Lenkoran District Court.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan has postponed indefinitely the approval of the nomination of Ilgar Mamedov, the leader of the civil movement "Republican Alternative" (ReAl), who is under investigation and arrest, as a presidential candidate.