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The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that on April 17 at a press conference held in the Institute of Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) poet-satirist Mirza Sakit (Sakit Zakhidov), journalist of the "Azadlyg" (Freedom) newspaper, stated that the situation in prisons of Azerbaijan is horrifying: prisoners are humiliated and exposed to torture; bribe-taking flourishes.

In the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), two residents of Karachaevo-Circassia and a resident of Adygea, detained on March 19 in the city of Tyrnyauz, have lodged complaints to human rights organizations saying they were exposed to illegal inquiry methods.

On April 15, at the monument to victims to political repressions, located between the cities of Nazran and Magas in Ingushetia, a protest action was conducted by relatives of the young people, kidnapped during the last week in the Malgobek District.

Azerbaijan pursues the policy of forced Shiitization of Moslems-Sunnites, indigenous Dagestanians, who inhabit their lands. This was stated by Magomed Ismailov, a resident of the Belokan District of Azerbaijan, who studies in one of Makhachkala higher schools.

Today, the Moscow Garrison Military Court has started the hearing on the case of Vladimir Bukreev, former judge of the North-Caucasian Regional Court, who in 2003 passed the verdict of guilty to Colonel Yuri Budanov who had killed a Chechen girl.

The capital of Chechnya is hosting a rally and a concert dedicated to Moscow's decision to lift the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime in the Republic's territory that had existed there for nine years.

These days in Tbilisi, attacks on activists of the opposition have become more frequent, as Soso Panuashvili, expert of the Tbilisi branch of the organization named "Human Rights", who is holding everyday monitoring of civil disobedience actions of the opposition, said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Ali Aliev, born in 1984, a resident of Leninkent village in a suburb of Makhachkala, asserts that he was kidnapped and beaten by law enforcers. The incident happened in the daytime a week ago in the presence of plenty of witnesses, as he himself said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

In the evening on April 15 in Nazran (Ingushetia), under unclear circumstances a young woman was murdered, as the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed at the Investigatory Division (ID) of the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation for Ingushetia.

Today, the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) has held its first session on the claim lodged by Georgia and charging Russia with regular violation of the rights of Georgian migrants, when they were deported from Russia in 2006-2007.

On April 14, in the capital of Georgia, popular local singer Zurab Mandzhavidze, who took part in the actions of the opposition, was beaten.

The court of general jurisdiction of the capital community Kentron-Nork-Marash, under presidency of Judge Gagik Khandanyan, has satisfied the police's petition to arrest former policeman Ashot Tadevosyan, detained on April 10 in the Northern Avenue. He is accused under Articles 136 and 316.1 of the Criminal Codes: "Insult of a policeman" and "Rendering resistance to power representative".

On April 14, Lusine Saakyan, advocate of oppositional activist Smbat Aivazyan, who was convicted under Article 316 of the Criminal Code of Armenia ("Resistance to power representative"), filed her application to the European Court on Human Rights on violation of the client's rights.

Now, at the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria, at the trial on the events on October 13, 2005, the state prosecutor is announcing the indictment as presented to the defendants. The basic leitmotif of the document - the defendants tried to dethrone the Russia's existing state order and create an Islamic state.

The statement of Knuth Vollebekk, Supreme Commissioner of the OSCE on national minorities (dated April 14, 2009), in which he accused Abkhazia of forced passportization, recruiting to army and restriction of teaching in the Georgian language, was groundless and engaged, as spoken in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Abkhazia.

On April 14, Federal Judge of the Kirov District of the city of Makhachkala Yaguzar Magomedov found illegitimate the actions of the employees of the IVS (temporary custody facility) at the ROVD of Makhachkala who did not admit advocate Abakar Aliev to his client Ahmed Aliev, detained in the course of a special operation, referring to the order of Rasul Gazimagomedov, head of the GUVD, about special regime.

The legislation on the activities of non-commercial non-governmental organizations (NCOs and NGOs) needs to be permanently amended and improved, as stated today by President of the Russian Federation Dmitri Medvedev at the sitting of the Board under Russian President for promoting development of civil society institutes and human rights.

David Dzhalalyan, a correspondent of the Internet edition named "А1+", who suffered in clashes with policemen in the Northern Avenue of Yerevan, has refused from his earlier statement that he was beaten by policemen. According to Mr Dzhalalyan's application kept at the Kentron police station, he was not beaten by policemen, but occasionally fell down on his back and received bruises.

Today, at 2:50 p.m. an ambulance brought Sayara Geidarova, earlier accused of beating four males at a time on April 1, 2005, and now announcing another hunger strike, to Baku-based Efendiev Hospital No. 2. Geidarova's condition is estimated as grave.

The Olympiad in Sochi can bring a catastrophe to this city; it should be either decentralized or rejected - this is the conclusion of the report published yesterday, on April 13, by Boris Nemtsov, a candidate for Sochi Mayor, and economist Vladimir Milov.