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An extraordinary meeting of the Combined Control Commission for the Resolution of the Georgian-Osetian Conflict is being held in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Osetia. The meeting was arranged because the problem with hostages taken from both sides was to be settled immediately.

In the time of Aslan Maskhadov, Magomed Magomadov headed a group of investigators in the Chechen prosecutor's office engaged in investigations of cases connected with kidnappings.

Beslan residents who suffered in the terror attack have been picketing the Kavkaz federal rout for the second day. "Our children lie in graves, and we'll lie here until Dzasokhov (president of North Osetia - editor's note) goes away," picketers said to a Caucasian Knot correspondent.

Russian soldiers purposefully extrude people from mountainous districts of Chechnya.

People who suffered in the terror attack in Beslan school 1 started a picket at about 10 a.m. on the Rostov-Baku road entering Beslan, North Osetia.

This morning, South Osetian law enforcers blocked the road Tskhinval-Dzhava going along Georgian villages.

Sarmat Parastayev, a brother of director of the Center for Humanitarian Studies Alan Parastayev taken to the Gudushuari medical center in Tbilisi, Georgia, has reported that Alan was beaten by officers of the South Osetian Interior Ministry.

Some time ago, the Arabian media reported that the United States was going to attack Iran from three directions: from Iraq, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasian Knot correspondent has turned to Azerbaijan political scientists for comments on the issue.

Today, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) have addressed an open letter to President Putin on the kidnappings of Aslan Maskhadov's relatives by Chechen enforcement agencies.

Vladimir Suvorov and Zezag Usmanova, the defense of Zara Murtazaliyeva - a resident of Chechnya convicted by the Moscow City Court on January 17, are extremely dissatisfied with the court decision. The court sentenced the 22-year-old student from Chechnya to 9 years' imprisonment.

Director of the Center for Humanitarian Studies Alan Parastayev supposes that political motives are behind his beating by officers of the South Osetian Interior Ministry on December 30, 2004.

In the latest report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) lays strictures on actions of the Azerbaijan authorities and mentions numerous violations of human rights.

The special operation in the office of the Information Center of the Council of NGOs, which is situated in Nazran, Ingushetia, was conducted on January 12. A group of military men in masks armed with automatic rifles and light machine-guns rushed into the flat in the center of Nazran the organization rented as an office.

Private houses, which rebels from the Dzhennet group were supposed to be in, were stormed in two Dagestani towns, Makhachkala and Kaspiysk.

A group of believers is staging a rally in front of the Saudi Arabia Embassy to Azerbaijan demanding that visas should be granted to them to participate in the Hajj. The diplomatic mission of Saudi Arabia has delivered an official note of protest to the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry.

Rebels under the command of Rasul Makasharipov have been killing policemen, judges and prosecutors in Dagestan since 2002. The number of their victims has already reached 30 people.

Chechen law enforcers are checking information about the happening and searching for the people who went away in a car together with Said Husein Deniyev, said an officer of the Chechen Interior Ministry.

Head of the Information Center of the Council of NGOs Taisa Isayeva thinks that yesterday's incident showed the lack of professionalism of Ingush special services.

"It's time for all democratic forces to unite and put an end to authoritarianism in Azerbaijan," said chair of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party Ali Kerimli.

68,225 people, or 90.1%, voted for Sergey Bagapsh, and 3,467 people, or 4.5%, did for Yakub Lakoba.