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On January 16, a group of Baku private taxi drivers held a protest action near the building of the Ministry of Transport of Azerbaijan. They were protesting against the Ministry's intentions to ban the use of private cars, whose drivers were not licensed to render service to the population.

In Dagestan, human rights defenders investigate the circumstances of disappearance of two residents of the village of Komsomolskoe of the Kizilyurt District of the republic, who were found at IVS (temporary detention facility). According to witnesses, to whom relatives of the disappeared persons refer, young men were kidnapped by law enforcement agents. The human rights defenders were told at the police station that the young men were detained for violation of public order in state of alcoholic intoxication, policemen also reported on grenades found among the young men's belongings.

On January 16 in Derbent, OMON (riot police) agents beat an unknown man, the eyewitnesses of the incident report.

Residents of Chechnya, who were declared by the authorities as killed during a special operation, were earlier kidnapped Ali Aidamirov, Khalid Dushaev, and Israil Adizov. This was reported by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" with reference to relatives of the killed persons.

As reported by Tsukver Ramazanova, the mother of Sharvili Ramazanov, a boy of 14 from the village of But-Kazmalyar, who was beaten in the Magaramkent District of Dagestan, was examined by doctors in Derbent, after the district hospital had refused to take him.

On January 17, the Turkish court sentenced the two persons accused of involvement in the murder of Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Armenian-Turkish newspaper "Agos", printed in Istanbul, to lifelong imprisonment.

Tonight at the hospital, armed and masked men tried to move Ilez Nalgiev, the ex-head of the criminal police of the city of Karabulak, who was wounded on January 12 by an explosion triggered near his house, into the ward for prisoners, said Aza Yandieva, Mr Nalgiev's advocate.

Today, John Prescott, Co-Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), met in Armenia with relatives and friends of those who perished during the events on March 1, 2008. Parents of the casualties claim that they were not satisfied with the meeting with John Prescott.

Two young men, Ababukar Yevloev and Isa Bulguchev, disappeared on December, 27, in Magas, Ingushetia. A criminal case according to clause "abduction" was initiated on the fact of their disappearance, however up to date the fate of the missing people is unknown.

During a meeting between representatives of Armenian National Congress and Co-reporter of PACE John Prescott held on January, 16, the oppositionists complained of an inefficient investigation of the events of March, 1, 2008, in Armenia.

The physicians estimate the state of a policeman wounded during firing in Baksan as stable. This was reported by Department of the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Kabardino-Balkaria.

A police major who brought down four pedestrians in the town of Pallasovka, Volgograd region, acknowledged himself guilty. This was reported by Andrey Fedotov, Chief of Pallasov inter-district Investigative department of Committee of Inquiry of Russia in the region.

Servicemen of frontier police in Georgia detained citizen of the Russian Federation Armen Gasparyan. He is accused of illegal crossing the Armenian-Georgian border.

On January, 16, a number of governmental web-sites in Azerbaijan underwent a mass hacker attack. In particular, web-portals of Head of the state Ilham Aliev, the Ministry of Interior Affairs, the Ministry of Communications and Information technologies, the ruling party "Eni Azerbaijan" and the Constitutional Court were attacked.

The Federal Service of Court Marshals (FSCM) of Russia has refuted the information that the building of their unit in Buinaksk, Dagestan, was damage during shelling. According to the service, the shooting was opened at another building.

About a hundred former workers two Turkish construction companies - "Penta" and "Bora-Inshaat" - have held a rally in Grozny to demand payment of wage debts.

In the run-up to the "Eurovision" song contest to be held in Azerbaijan, Markus Loning, the Ombudsperson at the German Government, demanded to release all Azerbaijani political prisoners. He urged the participants of "Eurovision" to state that they would sing only in a free country.

The Georgia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) continues consultations with the Malaysian party concerning two Georgian citizens suspected of illegal drug trafficking. This was reported by Nino Kalandadze, Deputy Foreign Minister, who added that the Azerbaijani and Turkish parties were invited to help in tackling the issue.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Chechnya plans to provide polling stations with books of complaints and proposals. Working groups have been set up to install web cameras at polling stations.

The State Maritime Administration of Azerbaijan (SMAA) has announced the names of three crew members of the tanker "Edirne", which were regarded missing after the vessel had sunk.