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On May 4, in the city of Grozny, the office of the expert of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) for Northern Caucasus hosted a conference of representatives of forced migrants, who made a decision to hold, on June 1 in Nazran, a congress of forced migrants from Chechnya with the aim to discuss the problems of their return home.

Today, the court that considers the case on the attack on power structures of Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, on October 13, 2005, has decided to change the order of judicial investigation. By doing so, the court has supported the prosecution, which petitioned in favour interrogating the witnesses in full about the sites they had visited during the events.

The witnesses in the so-called "Case of Seven", which was split by court's decision of April 1 into several individual cases, refuse from their evidences they had given at the investigation stage.

The press service of the National Forum has reported that the Georgian opposition made a decision to postpone by three days the start of intended picketing of main country's highways in the context of MIA's information about a putsch allegedly prepared and then prevented.

Ingushetia continues investigating the murder of Adam Aushev, 21, a resident of Surkhakhi village and younger brother of militant Magomed Aushev, liquidated during a special operation in Barsuki village, Nazran District, last December.

John Prescott and George Colombier, Co-Rapporteurs of the Monitoring Commission for Armenia of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have addressed the Armenian authorities with an appeal to set free those detainees who did not take part in violent actions on March 1, 2008. This is reported in a statement promulgated today by the press service of the Council of Europe.

In the evening on May 4, policemen and persons in civilian clothes tore down posters of protest against terrorism, attached by students near the place, where massacre was committed on April 30.

In Ordzhonikidzevskaya (Slepsovskaya) village, Sunzha District of the Republic of Ingushetia, unidentified persons kidnapped a local resident Khamkhoev, Ismail Ibragimovich, 39, living at 21 Vygonnaya Street. On May 4, his wife - Lida Khamkhoevа - brought her written application to the representative office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in Nazran; the document gives details of her husband's kidnapping and asks for help in searching him.

The Armenian party fails to treat the captured Azerbaijani soldier according to international conventions; he is tortured with the aim to withdraw negative information about the Azerbaijani Army. This was stated by Eldar Sabiroglu, head of the press service of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan. The Armenian party has refuted this information.

President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov has obliged bureaucrats of his country to report about their incomes. The corresponding prescription was announced by him at the sitting of the Government and administration heads of cities and districts.

In Dagestan, as of morning of May 4, the number of residents of Novy Sulak settlement, brought to the Kizil-Yurt city hospital with preliminary diagnosis of sharp intestinal disease, is 26 persons, 11 children among them.

The Georgian opposition, which is now holding termless mass protests with a demand of President Mikhail Saakashvili's resignation, is expressing the intention to picket, in the round-the-clock mode, central highways of Georgia.

The health status of Hero of Russia Sulim Yamadaev causes no concern of the doctors; he started speaking and is prepared to the second surgery because of the wound received during the attempt on him in March 2009. This was reported by Sulim's brother Isa Yamadaev.

Law enforcement bodies of Ingushetia are in search of unidentified persons involved in the murder of a resident of Troitskaya village, Sunzha District, committed on Friday, May 1.

A criminal case was initiated in Armenia on the fact of the attack on Argishti Kiviryan, manager of the electronic edition "Armenia Today". However, the journalist's relatives disagree with the article under which the case was opened.

The Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria, where the trial on the events on October 13, 2005, is held, today has started a judicial investigation on the episode about preparation to the attack on the Department on Fighting against Organized Crime (known as "UBOP") of the MIA of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR).

Two persons were arrested in the case on the massacre committed on April 30 in Baku at the Azerbaijani State Oil Academy (ASOA). This is reported in the joint statement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and State Office of Public Prosecutor of Azerbaijan, which arrived to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent in the evening on May 4.

A decision was made by members of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation (RF), leaders of main Russian non-commercial organizations (NCOs) and Dagestan leadership to set up a joint working group on problems of observance of rights and freedoms in this republic.

In honor of World Press Freedom Day May 3, 2009 the South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders expresses its concern about the press freedom situations in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Bans on independent and opposition media outlets, censorship, and harassment of journalists remain serious concerns in all three countries. In addition, in Azerbaijan, unlike Georgia and Armenia, defamation is a criminal offence.

In the city of Cherkessk, the capital of Karachaevo-Circassia, the longest shashlik (kebab) in the world was cooked. The length of the modular skewer with the shashlik made 120 meters. For cooking the meal, 80 shashlik cookers used 400 kilos of meat from 30 young lambs.