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The procedural errors in the criminal case on the attack of Rifkat Shabanov, Deputy of the Astrakhan Regional Duma, on journalists during the election of the Mayor of Astrakhan on October 11, 2009, could have been made deliberately by inspectors of the Russian ICPO for the Astrakhan Region. This was stated by Oleg Shein, Russian State Duma Deputy. In his opinion, any protraction is beneficial for the defendant.

After the city administration refused to sanction the human rights defenders' "March of Dissent" within the Movement "Strategy-31", Sergey Basmanov, director of the organization to protect constitutional rights of citizens, said that at 6:00-8:00 p.m. he would hold a solo picket.

On December 29 in Baku, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev was decorated with the Prize "Journalists' Friend" for 2010, awarded by the Committee to Protect Journalists "RUH". It was ambiguously perceived by the journalistic community, politicians and civil society activists, who believe it illogical to reward the president, when the country has serious problems with the freedom of the press, and where pressure on media people.

Today, in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Sunzha District of Ingushetia, an explosion occurred near the wine and vodka shop; one person suffered.

On December 30, an operative agent from a special-purpose militia unit, deployed near Moscow, received serious traumas at detention of an offender in the Sunzha District of Ingushetia; this was reported by a source from local law enforcement bodies.

By the New Year, the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has pardoned 407 prisoners. This was stated at today's briefing by Khatuna Kalmakhelidze, local Minister for Correction, Probation and Legal Aid.

As reported by Vadim Ramazanov, deputy head for international activities of the city's department of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE), the supposed reason of today's morning fire in the premises of "Narodnaya Gazeta" (People's Newspaper) in Sochi was arson; according to latest data, there were no casualties or victims.

The decree to pardon 92 persons, signed by President of Azerbaijan, has not solved the problem of political prisoners in the country, local human rights activists believe. At the same time, Saida Godzhamanly, head of the Bureau of Human Rights and Law Defence, has positively assessed the decree from the standpoint of humanism.

Today, around 10:00 a.m., a heavy traffic accident happened in the Baku-Shamakhi Highway in Azerbaijan. Seven persons were killed and one person was injured.

In the opinion of journalist Thomas Tsivas, who has been monitoring the case of the Lithuanian girl Egle Kusaite, accused of preparing terror act in Russia, from the very beginning, the decision of the court to hold sessions behind closed doors has to do with the fact that the state security agency of Lithuania does not want to reveal its relationships with the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) and uncover Lithuanian special agents.

The programme of resettling residents of Northern Caucasus reached Penza. Within the resettlement programme of labour-excessive population the region will receive several hundreds of Dagestanis and Ingushes.

Khizar Daurbekov, a suspect of complicity in the explosion on September 9 in the marketplace of Vladikavkaz, where several dozens were lost, is still kept in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of Vladikavkaz. His relatives and defender insist on his complete innocence and state gross violations of his rights in the course of investigatory actions.

Elena Slepko, an activist of the Inter-Regional Public Movement "All Persons Are Equal under Law and before Court", has come out today with her solo picket in front of the Administration of the Krasnodar Territory with New Year greetings to local Governor Alexander Tkachov and a demand to release entrepreneur Sergey Lyakh from the Krasnodar SIZO (pre-trial prison). Elena was detained by militiamen, who claimed that her picket was not a solo one.

A draft of major directions of realization of national policy up to 2015 devoted to the use of social advertising for impact upon the young generation has been accepted in Stavropol region. This was announced at a session of Youth Inter-ethnic Council with the participation of Valery Gaevsky, Governor of Stavropol district, on December, 29.

On December, 29, the personnel of law enforcement bodies in the foothill district of Achkhoy-Martan detained a local resident who had been in federal search. The detained is accused of being involved in kidnapping.

A twenty-three-year-old woman who had been considered as missing was detained by militiamen on December, 26, in Gudermes, the second of the largest cities of Chechnya. The detained woman was conveyed to her relatives.

On Wednesday, December, 29, Ilham Aliev, President of Azerbaijan, signed a direction of mercy to 92 people.

On December 28, law enforcers of the city of Khasavyurt, Dagestan, detained Ahmednabi Ahmednabiev, a student of the Islamic University, who spread leaflets with a call not to celebrate the New Year. This was reported by the student himself. At the background of preparation for the holiday, the churchmen in Dagestan also note that Muslims should not celebrate the start of the new year, as it is a secular holiday.

Late at night on December 28 veterans of the Afghan War stopped their 9-day-long picket in Makhachkala.

On December 28, in the Akhalgori District of South Ossetia, Russian border guards detained two citizens of Georgia, who happened to be without documents.