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In Azerbaijan, Isakhan Ashurov, advocate of satirical poet Sakit Zakhidov (Mirza Sakit), employee of the "Azadlyg" newspaper who is serving his imprisonment, has addressed the Nariman District Court of Baku with a petition to consider the possibility of early relief for his client.

The organizers and participants of protest actions in the city of Zverevo, Rostov Region, experience amplified pressure from local authorities. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Valery Dyakonov, Deputy of Zverevo City Duma.

Zurab Estoev, a resident of Ingushetia and now one of the inmates of the temporary isolation facility (the so-called "IVS") in the city of Nalchik, complains of oppressions from the IVS administration. Estoev's relatives told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about it.

The murder of Chechen activist Imran Gaziev (Umar Gazi), accomplished on November 18, 2007, in Baku, remains unsolved until now. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Isa Akhyadov, Chechen human rights activist who lives in Azerbaijan.

The Women's Charitable Hospital, situated in the capital of Dagestan, received an order from the division of court marshals of the Sovietskiy District of Makhachkala on initiation of executive proceedings, according to which the Hospital shall abandon all the occupied premises before December 30, 2008.

During the week from December 11 to December 17, at least seven persons were killed and fifteen more wounded as a result armed clashes and terror acts committed in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.

The changes in the Constitution assuming cancellation of the restriction to elect one and the same person President of Azerbaijan for more than two terms in a row are violations of one of fundamental principles of democracy - need of power turnover. This was the main idea expressed at the roundtable held on December 19 at the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety of Azerbaijan.

On December 18, the Centre for Promoting Small Businesses was launched in Kurtat village of the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia with support of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial".

Azerbaijan has hosted a campaign "Ganimat's Week" held in solidarity with Ganimat Zakhidov, editor-in-chief of the "Azadlyg" newspaper, who is now serving his term. The action was organized by the "ASI Club" ("Freedom of Speech Advocates' Club"), which is uniting the columnists of the independent and oppositional newspapers of the Republic.

Four militiamen and two civilians were wounded by an explosive hidden in a bag and left inside a buildings in the Leninskiy District of the capital of Chechnya.

Rafik Rakhman Ogly Gasanov, a serviceman of the Azerbaijani Army, who surrendered to the Armenian party under obscure circumstances, has announced his desire to receive citizenship of Armenia, as the Ministry of Defence of Armenia reports.

On December 19, in Matveevo-Kurgan village, Rostov Region, forty unexploded shells remaining from the time of the World War II were found.

Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Cyril has appealed to Orthodox Christians to pray for normalization of Russian-Georgian relations.

Today, the Deputies of the Supreme Rada, having listened to the report of the ad hoc inquiry commission of the parliament, which had been setup to investigate into deliveries of arms and military equipment to Georgia, have refused to extend its work, as it was suggested, till June 2009.

On December 18, five witnesses were interrogated at the trial of the murder of the observer of "Novaya Gazeta" Anna Politkovskaya, including employees of the FSB (Federal Security Bureau), who were interrogated in the closed regime, since state secrets could be mentioned in the process.

Ingushetian human rights activists voice their protest against Murad Gasaev's extradition to Russia as promised by the government of Spain. They fear that he can be tortured in Russia.

On December 18, a picket demanding investigation of the murder of three Ilaev brothers was held in Grozny opposite the Ombudsman of Chechnya; the brothers were assassinated earlier this month. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by one of the picketers - Kheda Saratova, journalist of the South-Russian Information and Analytical Agency.

Alexander Arzumanyan, one of the defendants in the "Case of Seven", former head of the pre-election office of Levon Ter-Petrosyan and ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, has stated today at the court session, addressing the judge and the accusation, that the opposition activists were arrested illegally.

On Thursday, the European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR) considered a complaint from Chechnya, regarding disappearance of a young man named Ruslan Kasumov in February 2003. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has learnt about it from a member of the organization called "The Legal Initiative for Russia".

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was assured at two district departments of education that there would be no "census" of schoolboys of "Caucasian nationalities". The officials of the departments declared that they had never urged schools to make nationality-oriented lists of pupils.