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In Armavir, the head of the SIZO (pre-trial prison) No. 2 of the UFSIN (Department for the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Corrective Service), and two deputy heads of SIZO divisions are suspected of abuse of power with use of violence. A criminal case was opened against them.

An action was held today in front of Sochi city administration in protest against DDOS-attacks on local public Internet resources. The protesters taped their mouths with stickers "Censorship" and held laptops in their hands with crossed inscription "Freedom of speech" on the monitors.

Three representatives of the Circassian community of Syria arrived to Kabardino-Balkaria. Yesterday, on January 31, they met journalists at the office of the International Circassian Association.

On the eve of the election of the president of the Russian Federation, the district administrations of Sochi send to sanatorium-and-spa institutions the document entitled "Schedule for obtaining absentee ballots of staff members of sanatorium-and-spa institutions at territorial election commission". This was reported by Valery Suchkov, the organizer of the "Sochi centre for election public control".

On January 31, the Yasamal District Court of Azerbaijan chaired by Judge Elchin Gurbanov sentenced four persons accused of beating of Amanda Erickson, the US citizen, and Celia Davis, the UK citizen, to 2-4 years of imprisonment.

On January 31, two unidentified persons beat a federal judge in Krasnodar; he was hospitalized. This was reported by the press service of the Investigatory Department of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) for the Krasnodar Territory.

Abdula Magomedov, a resident of the village of Tsekob of the Shamil District of Dagestan, was beaten in the presence of policemen in the building of the Lenin ROVD (District Interior Division) of the city of Makhachkala and then murdered in the building of the Republic's Narcological Dispensary, where he was brought for examination after a road accident by the GIBDD (road police) officials. This was reported by countrymen of Magomedov. They managed to meet Magomedsalam Magomedov, the leader of the republic, who promised to take the investigation into the case under his control.

Cutting down of greenery on the land plot, located on the western slope of Mount Mashuk, in the area of Kuchura Street of the city of Pyatigorsk, was committed in violation of applicable environmental legislation. This was revealed by the inspection conducted by the Stavropol Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor's Office. The developer states that the problems with the legislation have been already settled, the city authorities promise that cut down trees will be restored by this April.

Emilkhan Sadaev, the ally of Aslan Maskhadov, President of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, requested for political asylum in Georgia.

Today, the Sabail District Court of the city of Baku sentenced Tural Gadjibeili and Amid Suleimanov, two young activists of the opposition "Musavat" Party, to three days of administrative arrest.

The authorities of Abkhazia do not confirm information about staying of Georgian monk Jonah on the territory of the republic. This was stated on January 31 at the meeting within the five-sided Mechanism to prevent and respond to incidents (MPRI). The Georgian side agreed with the version, considering the possible kidnapping of the monk.

In the evening on January 31 in Dagestan, an attempt on Zalimkhan Kocherov, Deputy Chief of the National Council of the Nogai Nation, was committed. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Fazil Cherkesov, a resident of the village of Terekli-Mekteb of the Nogai District. No one was wounded by the shelling.

Today, the meeting of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate of Pakistan unanimously adopted resolution to recognize the tragic events that occurred in 1992 in the town of Khodjaly in Nagorno-Karabakh as genocide. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Azerbaijan.

Guardianship authorities have cancelled their orders on temporary release of Vera Drobinskaya, a resident of the city of Astrakhan, from her duties as a guardian of seven children with disabilities. The cancellation was announced, when representatives of various organizations and institutions, including the Ombudsperson for Children of the Russian Federation, expressed their support to the guardian. Like earlier, the children remain with Vera Drobinskaya.

The Chechen law enforcement agencies have revealed the causes of a road accident, involving a military truck "Ural" in the north of the republic, which killed a local resident and injured seven power agents, that were security forces - is clear ice and wrong actions of the driver of the passenger car.

To determine the fates of persons disappeared and kidnapped during the war, Chechnya started working on collection of DNA from their relatives. According to official information, during the two military campaigns in Chechnya, lists of missing and kidnapped people contain about 5000 persons; however, according to human rights activists, the figure could be much higher.

According to Anzor Kushkhabiev, Ph.D. in Historical sciences, the author of the monographs "Circassians in Syria", "Circassian Diaspora in Arab World", "Essay on history of Circassian Diaspora", the situation of Syrian Circassians is aggravated by the fact that they do not actively support the ruling regime of Syria and the opposition forces.

In 2011, the birth rate in Chechnya was again significantly higher than the Russian national average, said the local Ministry of Public Health (MPH). In parallel with the birth rate growth, doctors state decrease of infant mortality against previous years. Meanwhile, a number of local women complain of corruption at maternity hospitals; however, the MPH does not confirm this information.

On February 1, the South-Ossetian party plans to deliver five Georgian citizens detained for illegal crossing the border to its Georgian counterpart, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by a source from the KGB (Committee for State Security) of South Ossetia.

More than 70 senators and 50 members of the lower house of the French Parliament have addressed their petition to the French Constitutional Board asking to cancel the recently adopted law on criminalization of genocide denial.