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Georgian journalist Irakliy Berulava, who is present in the venue, has treated the data about the number of participants in the protest rally in Tbilisi, reported by some mass media, to be frankly false.

Early in the morning on April 9, in Azerbaijan, poet-satirist Mirza Sakit (Sakit Zakhidov), a journalist of the "Azadlyg" (Freedom) newspaper, who was sentenced in October 2006 to three years in prison for drug dealing, got at large.

The European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) has again condemned Russia on four claims filed by Chechens and has obliged Russia to pay 282,000 euros out to residents of Chechnya for disappearance of their relatives in 2001-2003.

The Party of Zurab Nogaideli, former prime minister of Georgia, named as "Movement for United Georgia", is holding protest actions in Adzharia.

On April 5, unidentified power agents kidnapped Yusup Zagirov, born in 1977. His brother Omar Zagirov made a statement yesterday, on April 8.

According to Georgian sources, on April 7, a Georgian named Gvandzhi Kuprava, 65, was kidnapped from Sida village, Gali District. The kidnappers asked for a ransom, and then took Kuprava in an unknown direction.

Yuri Airapetyan, Ombudsman of Nagorno-Karabakh, will become a member of the European Institute of Ombudspersons. Having announced this news to journalists, Mr Airapetyan added that in 2008 there were no mass violations of human rights in Nagorno-Karabakh, as the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

A Chechen militiaman was wounded by explosion of a fougasse (land mine) planted under the bottom of his car. It happened in the evening on April 7 in the foothill Urus-Martan District of the republic. The victim was hospitalized.

The attempt on Sulim Yamadaev, former commander of a special GRU battalion, and the murder of his senior brother, former State Duma deputy Ruslan Yamadaev, were backed by people from the retinue of President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, the members of the Yamadaev family assert.

The Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation has reported about detention of suspects of committing a number of resonant crimes, including assassination of Ruslan Yamadaev, former deputy of the State Duma of Russia, and an attempt on the former military commandant of Chechnya General-Colonel Sergey Kizyun.

Today, at about 6 p.m. local time, in Yerevan, a clash burst out between policemen of the patrol-sentry unit and participants of the so-called "political walks" in the Northern Avenue of the Armenian capital.

The authorities of Georgia get ready to the opposition's protest action on April 9. Relatives of Georgian soldiers complain that the authorities keep servicemen in information vacuum. The opposition is not set up to initiate any clashes, as the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by Khatuna Ivanishvili, press secretary of Nino Burdzhanadze, leader of the Party "Democratic Movement - United Georgia.

Yesterday, on April 7, journalists of the "Chernovik" (Blueprint) newspaper, including its editor-in-chief, accused of kindling hatred or enmity, or humiliation of human dignity, were acquainted with the indictment, which they refused to sign. Meanwhile, back on April 5, Public Prosecutor of Dagestan Yuri Tkachov approved the indictment under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and sent the case to the court.

During his meeting with relatives of Gapur Tankiev, a resident of the city of Malgobek who was kidnapped on April 3, President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov promised to personally supervise the course of investigation. Until now, nothing is known about Gapur's whereabouts.

Stefaniya Kulaeva, a human rights activist of the Anti-Discrimination Centre "Memorial", said that the issue of attitude to Gipsies proved to be interesting to many and rather painful, after the debate had burst out and is still underway after the media reported about the incident in St-Petersburg metro, when a radio announcement was made: "Take care, Gipsies are here!"

On April 6, near the building of the National Assembly of Armenia, a protest action was held by youth public organizations. Several dozens of young people expressed their negative altitude to the bill with amendments to the Laws "On Police" and "On Police Troops" and demanded to cancel the bill.

Ziyavudin Uvaisov, advocate of Dinara Butdaeva, whose indictment was approved by the Prosecutor's Office of Dagestan on the criminal case of involvement in an armed formation, illegal purchase, storage and transportation of firearms, has stated the innocence of his client.

Relatives of Sulim Yamadaev, executed by gunmen in Dubai on March 28, find it full absurdity that President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov had accused Sulim, ex-commander of the "Vostok" special GRU battalion, of involvement in murdering Ramzan's father Ahmat Kadyrov.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by the press service of President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov that the authorities of Ingushetia plan to analyse all the proposals contained in yesterday's report "Violence under Control" drafted by the Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization "Mashr" and telling about kidnappings and murders in the republic in 2008.

Svetlana Isaeva, chair of the board of the public organization "Mothers of Dagestan", has stated that "special public activists" had been invited on March 10 to the meeting of the leader of Dagestan Mukhu Aliev with Russian human rights activists and members of the Russian Public Chamber Commission on Interethnic Relations and Freedom of Religion; and the above "activists" provoked the roundtable into a verbal skirmish.