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Ombudsman Armen Arutyunyan has stated that he has facts that press professionals were prevented from normal work in Armenia and that force was used against journalists on the voting day to the Board of Elders of Yerevan.

On June 3, the capital of Norway hosted the awarding ceremony of Herd Bucerius Award "Free Press of Eastern Europe" to journalists from the CIS countries. Journalists from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Russia were among the laureates.

The work of the fact-finding group about clashes of the opposition with the police forces on March 1, 2008, in Yerevan has in fact failed. This was told to journalists by Samvel Farmanyan, press secretary of the President of Armenia, in his comments on the complicated situation in the group. He has expressed his regret that the group members nominated by various political forces failed to depart from their political benchmarks and work independently.

The section named "Russia" in this year's report on human rights worldwide of the Amnesty International (AI), the largest international independent human rights organization, dealt mainly with the situation in Northern Caucasus. This was reported by Frederica Behr, an AI's researcher.

The city of Sochi stands on deposits of mercury ore; and its chaotic build-up without due geological surveys can lead to emission of mercury vapours to the surface and result in tragedy. Nadezhda Didenko, candidate of geological and mineralogical sciences and scientific secretary of the Sochi branch of the Russian Geographical Society told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about it. So far, the authorities of Sochi know nothing about it, but promise to address the issue.

Arthur Babaev, brother of Farid Babaev, leader of the Republic's branch of the Russian "Yabloko" Party, who was killed in Dagestan, does not exclude that the murder criminal case can be closed. Dokka Itslaev, advocate for the Babaevs, said that the direct gunman can escape punishment.

At the session on June 3 of the court considering a group of suspected participants in the attack on Ingushetia in summer of 2004, the prosecution moved a petition to consider the case without jurymen. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by one of the participants in the litigation.

A special commission in charge of investigating the fates of missing residents of the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia has started its work with collecting all relevant information; then, it will move to localities.

Today, the Moscow City Court has cancelled the decision to arrest militiamen from the OVD (Interior Department) "Mitino", accused by four natives of Chechnya of beating them in a Moscow cafe. The Court has sent the arrest petition submitted by the investigation to the Tushino District Court for re-consideration.

Ismail Khamkhoev, 39, kidnapped on April 28 by unidentified persons in Ordzhonikidzevskaya village of Ingushetia, was found dead in Chechnya. He was buried on June 1.

Mustafa Iliev, an employee of the MIA on the Republic of Ingushetia, will face justice for kidnapping and murdering a human. This was reported by the Investigatory Department (ID) for Ingushetia of the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation.

The Ingush refugees' camp in Karabulak named "Sozidanie" (Creation) housing over 150 forced migrants from Chechnya was left without electricity supply. The refugees view it as an attempt to evict them.

In Grozny, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) are searching a boy of five who disappeared on May 30 under unclear circumstances. It is supposed that the boy could get drowned in Sunzha River.

Soldier Anton Kuznetsov, who was considered missing for five years, has returned from Dagestan to the Lipetsk Region. According to his story, he has spent all this time in slavery, where he had been sold by commanders of his unit.

The Amnesty International (AI) has awarded its prestigious prize "For journalism under threat" to Einullah Fatullaev, founder and editor-in-chief of newspapers "Real Azerbaijan" and "Gyundelik Azerbaijan" (Azerbaijan Daily), now serving his term in prison.

Starting from April 10, plenty of Gypsies have been detained in the city of Volzhsk, Volgograd Region. Elena Konstantinova, leader of the Volgograd Regional NGO in defence of Gipsy women's rights named "Congress of Romany Women - Juvlicano Romano Congresso", has made this statement in her conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Representatives of the family of Magomed Evloev, deceased former owner of the website "Ingushetia.Ru", report that the judge of the Nazran Court of Ingushetia, who earlier considered Evloev's death case, has accepted his self-disqualification, on which relatives had insisted.

Officers of the Investigating Department of Russian SKP in Kabardino-Balkaria claim they have identified the second militant killed in the course of the May 28 special operation in Nalchik.

The persons detained in Sochi on May 14 while holding individual pickets are not satisfied with the response of the city Central District prosecutor who failed to register violations in the militia actions at detaining them.

Today, the police forces have prevented activists of the "Musavat" party from holding a picket in front of the Iranian embassy in Baku in protest against violations in that country of the rights of ethnic Azerbaijanis.