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The inactivity of the investigatory bodies in searching the missing and kidnapped residents of Chechnya provokes protest actions. This is asserted by the Ombudsman of Chechnya Nurdi Nukhazhiev in his letter to Yuri Chaika, General Public Prosecutor of Russia, where he asked Mr Chaika to interfere.

The statement of Chechen NGOs criticizing the work of the HRC "Memorial" is nothing more but a vivid confirmation of impossibility for human rights activists to work in this republic. Oleg Orlov, head of the Centre, told about it to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Today, Zubair Omarov, inspector of the investigatory committee for especially important cases under the Prosecutor's Office of Dagestan, has invited two figurants of the "execution list" and explained that the issue of their status of witnesses under state protection may be solved soon after the New Year holiday.

On December 29, a resident of Ingushetia, who was on his way home from his student's session in the train "Novokuznetsk-Kislovodsk", was kidnapped by unidentified persons. His sister assumes that power agencies have to do with this kidnapping.

According to data of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", where statistics is run on kidnappings in Dagestan, in 2009 there were 17 kidnappings in the territory of this republic. Human rights activists note that the figure is far from being final. One of latest incidents recorded by the organization took place at night on December 25 at about half past midnight in the village of Gubden, Karabudakhkent District.

Activists of the civil society are indignant with the statement of the spokesman of the Penitentiary Service that as a result of a search heroin was found on Einullah Fatullaev, editor-in-chief of the "Real Azerbaijan" newspaper, who is serving his prison term.

The year of 2009, same as its predecessors, was lost from the viewpoint of democratization and people's prosperity growth. This was stated to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Ali Kerimli, leader of the Party of the National Front of Azerbaijan (PNFA), in his comments on 2009 totals.

The next session of the court on the case dealing with the attempt on Hero of Russia Sulim Yamadaev committed in March in Dubai will take place on January 7, 2010. This was stated by Andrei Nesterenko, official spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Basmanny Court of Moscow has extended by 3.5 months the custody of Nikita Tikhonov, accused of killing advocate Stanislav Markelov and journalists Anastasia Baburova.

The former employee of the UVD (Interior Department) of Novorossisk Alexei Dymovskiy, in whose relation a criminal case was opened, was summoned today for interrogation to the prosecutor's office, but he asked there to postpone the investigatory action.

As stated by Shafig Pshikhachev, plenipotentiary of the Moslems' Coordination Centre of Northern Caucasus (MCC NC) located in Moscow, Northern Caucasus faces the need to liquidate the illiteracy displayed in perversed understanding of the Koran and principles of Islam. This was announced at the press conference held in Russian capital on the outcomes of the year.

A jobless Volgograd invalid of 56 spent half a year to prove his right to his unemployment benefit. Finally he succeeded in the court with legal support of the Ombudsman for the Volgograd Region.

Today, upon the end of judicial pleadings in Novgorod at the trial on the first attack on the "Neva-Express" train in 2007, a break was announced till January 11, 2010, when the defendants will have their last plea.

In their open letter, parents of the ten persons who fell victim on March 1, 2008, during disorders in Yerevan accuse the country's ruling coalition and the members of the interim parliamentary commission of complicity to the crime and of an attempt to hide the circumstance of the events and blanch over the assassins.

Ms Dobrieva, a relative of assassinated oppositionist Maksharip Aushev, has addressed human rights activists for help in searching her brothers and nephews, who disappeared in St Petersburg. She has filed respective applications to the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in Nazran (Ingushetia) and Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization "Mashr".

Ivona Kalishewska, an employee of the Polish edition "Kaukaz.net", asserts that the recent attempt of refugees from Georgia and Chechnya, accommodated in Polish refugee centres, to cross the German border had nothing to do with their "hard residence conditions" in Poland.

The law enforcement bodies of St Petersburg know nothing about disappearance in their city of relatives of the human rights activist from Ingushetia Maksharip Aushev, who was shot dead in October. The missing persons are Ali Dzhaniev, a brother of Maksharip's widow, and her uncle - Yusup and Yunus Dobriev. The latter was well-known among St Petersburg Moslems for his humanitarian activity.

One of extremist websites has placed photos of cut-off heads of Murat Dokushukin and Albert Shebzukhov, assassinated in November in Kabardino-Balkaria. Militants say that the casualties were snooping members of the armed underground.

Eduard Sharmazanov, press secretary of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia has condemned the October 27 attack on young opposition activists, treating as unacceptable any attempt of human rights violation. Oppositionists, in the turn, accuse the authorities.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has signed a number of laws changing the territorial jurisdiction of terrorists and allowing consideration of "terrorist" cases by juries.