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Human rights activists want a letter to be sent to Russian president-elect Dmitri Medvedev with a demand to hold an efficient and fair investigation into disappearances of people in Northern Caucasus.

Koba Chapliani, Director of the Centre of National Minorities at the Office of Ombudsman of Georgia, thinks that the time has come for the state to make Gipsies an integral part of the Georgian society.

It follows from the message of the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan, which was read on air of the state TV Channel, that the reason of the attempt on Agyl Khalil, an employee of the "Azadlyg" newspaper was the offence of his rejected sexual partner Sergey Strekalin.

In Armenia, early on April 8, in Vanatur district of the city of Razdan, policemen detained nine participants of the hunger strike in support of oppositional activist Sasun Mikaelyan and brought them to the police station.

One of the reasons why authorities of Russia refuse to pay money compensations to former servicemen in Chechnya is in the authorities' intention to minimize expenses on militaries, asserts Igor Sazhin, Chairman of the Komi Human Rights Committee "Memorial".

Today, at 11 a.m.-1 p.m., in Moscow, in Slavyanskaya Square, near the monument to Cyril and Methodius, a picket was held by some 20 human rights activists from the Urals, North of Russia, Siberia and other regions.

According to brother of Salambek Dzakhkiev, a defendant in the case of blowing up the "Neva-Express", who is now kept at the SIZO of Novgorod, Salambek needs hospitalization and thorough treatment.

The European Court for Human Rights has obliged Russia to pay over fourteen thousand euros to Oleg Tetsen, 29, a participant of the war in Chechnya, for breaching his rights to fair trial and possession of property.

Because of his health aggravation, Suren Surenyants, member of the Political Board of the "Republic" Party, has stopped his hunger strike in Armenia.

The Commission of European Communities (CEC) has approved granting humanitarian aid in the sum of 11 million euros to the victims of the armed conflict in Chechnya.

Today, the Pravoberezhny Court of North Ossetia has closed the criminal case against Ella Kesaeva, leader of the All-Russian Public Organization "Voice of Beslan", accused under four Articles of the Russian Criminal Code. Respondent Marina Melikova has cried quits.

Today is the 13th day of the hunger strike continued by a group of journalists and public figures of the country who demand release of convicted journalists and political prisoners.

Law enforcement bodies of Krasnodar Territory can benefit from the fact that Gipsies are ignorant of their rights and freedom. This concern was expressed to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Timur Khalilov, deputy chairman of the Krasnodar City Gipsies' National-Cultural Autonomy.

Today, President of Dagestan Mukhu Aliev, speaking to a specially convoked press conference, has categorically refuted the information that he had given instructions to ban the second performance of the play "All in Your Hands", staged on the motives of the tragic events that took place in the Dubrovka Theatrical Centre in Moscow.

The delegation of the European Committee against Torture (ECT) has finished their working visit to Northern Caucasus, which took place from March 27 to April 3.

Today in Frankfurt am Main a picket was held with a demand to Spanish authorities not to deport to Russia Murad Gasaev, a refugee from Ingushetia, who is suspected by Russian law enforcement bodies of taking part in the activities of armed underground in Northern Caucasus.

From now on, the Anti-Discrimination Centre "Memorial" starts to hold actions dated to the International Day of Gipsies marked annually on April 8.

Today, representatives of the Armenian Diaspora who live in Holland, France and Belgium will hold a protest action near the buildings of the European Union and European Commission in Brussels. The participants of the action plan to express their protest against the post-election events in Armenia.

In Dagestan, Sergey Rasulov, chief editor of the "Nastoyascheye Vremya" (Present Time) newspaper, was dismissed for breaking labour discipline. The journalist was preparing materials for publication, devoted to violations of the freedom of speech by the founders of the edition.

Aslambek Apaev, Chairman of the Committee for Defence of Forced Migrants' Rights and an expert of the Moscow Helsinki Group for Northern Caucasus, has addressed the president-elect Dmitri Medvedev and heads of Russia's power agencies with an appeal to protect him and members of his organization from prosecution by power agents.