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During eight recent months, 60 blocks of flats were burnt down in the centre of Astrakhan; 28 persons perished. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Oleg Shein, a State Duma Deputy from the Astrakhan Region and the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party.

The international organization "Reporters Without Borders" (RWB) has published a list of "enemies of the freedom of the press" as of the end of 2010. It includes heads of states and governments, kings, paramilitaries and mafia-like structures - in total, 38 positions.

Eliso Chapidze, a member of the Board for Journalistic Ethics, believes that last year Georgia really improved some indicators on the media freedom as fixed in the report of the Freedom House. However, she pointed out that last year several journalists were beaten; and the House failed to mention the events of March 2010, when the "Imedi" TV Company showed a simulated story about invasion of Russian troops to Georgia.

In 2010, the number of complaints addressed to the Children's Ombudsperson of the Rostov Region made 1052, or a 27-percent increase over the level of the previous two years: 769 complaints in 2009 and 749 in 2008. In 2010, practically all violations of minors' rights were remedied, the Ombudsperson's office reports.

A local resident has revealed the details of sale out on April 29 of meat of the bull-calves, which died from drug against mites. The meat was bought by meat wholesalers, who took the dangerous foodstuff to marketplaces. The Russian Federal Service for Consumer Supervision ("Rospotrebnadzor") has forwarded a request to the Prosecutor's Office.

In Volgograd, an initiative group of young mothers, who are fighting for children's rights, has addressed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and invited him to meet with them and discuss the problem of acute shortage of places in kindergartens of the region.

On May 3, a special operation in the mountain-woody Vedeno District of Chechnya resulted in murder of Abdullah Kurd (also known as Doger Sevdet), an emissary of al-Qaida and coordinator of terror acts in Northern Caucasus. This was reported by the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC).

Tamara Karasteleva, human rights activist from Novorossiisk Committee of Human Rights (NCHR), had to leave the county, expert of this organization Vadim Karastelev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. He said that this decision was taken after his wife received a summons to Criminal Investigation Department for a talk from law enforcement bodies.

A trial on the case of Jabbar Savalan, a youth activist of the Party National Front of Azerbaijan (PNFA) and active Facebook user, under the chairmanship of Ilgar Mamedov came to an end in Sumgait City Court of Azerbaijan today. The court found him guilty according to clause 234.1 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan (illegal storage of drugs) and sentenced him to 2,5 years of imprisonment.

Vidadi Iskenderov, the detained leader of the NGO "Promotion to Defence of Democracy" and a member of the Civil Movement for Democracy "Public Chamber" (CMDPC), is prosecuted for his active civil position, human rights activities and participation in oppositional rallies; the accusation against him was fabricated, says the CMDPC.

An underground production facility of pirate products has been liquidated in the territory of an enterprise situated in the northern residential area of Rostov-on-Don. Operative agents confiscated one million DVDs with counterfeit audiovisual records, foreign-made equipment for production and packing and plenty of paints and solvents for marking DVDs.

Today, the Tushino Court of Moscow has sentenced four former employees of the OVD (Interior Division) Mitino, found guilty of abuse of office during detention of the participants of the fight in January 2009, to prison terms ranging from three to five years. This was reported by Dmitry Bakharev, advocate of one of the defendants.

At night on May 3 an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in the car park of the OVD (Interior Division) and injured a policeman, said a source from law enforcement bodies of Russian capital.

As reported by Vladimir Fyodorov, press secretary of the Russian Embassy, eight persons were detained on charges of terrorism in the Czech Republic; three of them are supposedly Russian citizens, natives of Chechnya and Dagestan, representing the Jamaat "Shariat".

On April 27, the office of Ingush Ombudsman housed a roundtable "Legal status of certain categories of internally displaced persons (IDPs)". One of the main problems, according to its participants, is to resettle the people from their today's compact residence centres to homes with decent living conditions.

The results of the DNA assay did not confirm the death of the leader of the North-Caucasian armed underground Dokku Umarov, said the head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov. According to his story, there are now 50 members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) in the territory of Ingushetia.

Today, the Presnya Court of Moscow has extended till June 6 the arrest of Aslan Cherkesov, accused of murdering Yegor Sviridov, a fan of the "Spartak" FC at night on December 6, 2010, in Moscow, said Olga Sutyapova, the court press secretary.

Today, representatives of the democratic journalistic community of Azerbaijan marked the World Press Freedom Day by visiting the grave of Elmar Guseinov, editor-in-chief of the "Monitor" magazine, who was killed in March 2005 at the doorstep of his house.

Today, at a regular session of the Shamil District Court in Dagestan on beating of a 14-year-old boy by militiamen, Aishat Akhmedova, victim's mother, suffered an epileptic fit. The woman fell to the floor in the course of interrogation. Doctors of the ambulance that came after a while rendered help and eliminated the fit.

At the Sumgait City Court of Azerbaijan, at the trial of Jabbar Savalan, a youth activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), accused of illegal drug possession, the prosecutor Movlud Osmanov asked the court to appoint the maximum penalty under this article - three years of imprisonment - to the defendant.