Alla Vasilieva, Ombudsperson for the rights of the child in the Rostov Region, has addressed the Regional Prosecutor's Office asking to react to the illegal, in her opinion, decision of the Mayor of Novocherkassk, restricting the stay of children outdoor late in the evening without accompanying adults.

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.

Today, the office of the administration of the Krasnodar Territory has registered an appeal to the Governor of the Territory Alexander Tkachov, in which ecologists demand to stop felling the Utrish. The appeal was accompanied by the signatures that ecologists managed to gather in the course of the picket held near the administration under the motto: "Save Utrish!"

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 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 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.

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.

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.

The custody conditions of the detainees kept at the Voroshilov ROVD of the city of Volgograd should be changed for the better, as Mikhail Tarantsov, Ombudsman for the Volgograd Region, said in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

On December 17, the Khasavyurt City Court of Dagestan, presided by Federal Judge Akif Gadzhiev, considered and satisfied the complaint lodged by Gasan Baisultanov, a resident of Khasavyurt.

Today, a joint sitting of parliamentary commissions on legal policy, issues of state structure and human rights has approved the draft Referendum Act on making amendments and additions to the Constitution of Azerbaijan. Then, the document was passed over for consideration at the plenary session of the National Assembly. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that among offered innovations there is a point on lifting restrictions on election of one person as the country's president for more than two times.

The case of Rizvan Rizvanov, director general and founder of the weekly "Nastoyaschee Vremya" (Current Time) will be considered in the near future by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Dagestan.

On December 17, Elchin Bekhbudov, chair of the Azerbaijani Committee against Torture, has addressed the Interior Minister Ramil Usubov on the issue of torture used at the 24th police station of the Nizami District Police Department.

A number of criminal cases initiated against oppositionists on clashes with the police on March 1 in Yerevan have been closed because of insufficient evidence. Journalists were informed about it by Vaagn Arutyunyan, head of the special investigatory group.

Ecologists now know from documents that three Departments of the Krasnodar Territory had participated in legalizing the road constructions in the "Bolshoi Utrish" Nature Reserve near the city of Anapa. And one of them - the Department of Biological Resources and Environment Preservation - has coordinated all the issues of this construction within one day.

The Prosecutor's Office of the Kikvidzenskiy District of the Volgograd Region has revealed a number of gross violations in the operation of the state specialized in-patient establishment of social service of citizens of advanced age and invalids named "Macheshanskiy Boarding Home for Old People and Invalids". The top managers of the establishment were brought to administrative responsibility.

The final report of the Observant Mission of the Office for Democratic Institutes and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE runs that at the presidential election in Azerbaijan on October 15, the conditions crucial for pluralistic democracy were not observed.

The Monitoring Group of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan (MGHROA) has summed up its 2008. "The elapsing 2008 wasn't varicoloured from the viewpoint of ensuring human rights and won't be remembered for any significant positive events," Novella Dzhafaroglu, chairperson of the Society in Defence of Women's Rights named after Dilyara Alieva, said today in the press conference, as the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The Armenian party objects to setting up a special commission for studying the accessory of the Surb Norashen Church, since historically it is Armenian. This was stated by Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, head of the Eparchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AACh) in Georgia, in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The Prosecutor's Office of Moscow has recognized the fact that the property of the victims of the Dubrovka terror act was plundered. Advocate of the suffered party Igor Trunov said that such statement was made by the spokesman of the Prosecutor's Office of Moscow.

Nazir Kotiev, Chairman of the human rights organization named "Union of Deportees from North Ossetia", asserts that nobody is now dealing with the real solution of the problems of forced migrants from the Prigorodny District and Vladikavkaz from North Ossetia.

The trial that starts on December 19 on the criminal case of participants of mass disorders on March 1-2 in Yerevan, also known as the "Case of Seven", will be open, said Alina Engoyan, press secretary of the Cassation Court of Armenia.

Despite all appeals of the members of the Committee in Defence of Political Prisoners, Sarkis Atspanyan continues his termless hunger strike. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has learnt about it from human rights activist Vardan Arutyunyan, who characterized Atspanyan's health condition as very grave.

In the city of Zverevo, Rostov Region, 11 retired miners are on hunger strike. The protesters, some of them have been hospitalized, stand for the privilege they deserve by the law - the right to use free-of-charge coal or heating facility.

In Utrish, Krasnodar Territory, the builders have started to cut down century-old junipers in the area of the second lagoon - in the very centre of the "Bolshoi Utrish" Natural Reserve. On December 15, the site was visited by the investigatory group from the Department of Internal Affairs of the city of Anapa, accompanied by the "Green" activists.

Today, Elchin Bekhbudov, Chair of the Azerbaijani Committee against Torture, has visited ex-Minister of Public Health Ali Insanov, who is treated at the medical establishment of the Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice located in Beyuk Shor village, and Ruslan Bashirli, leader of the "Eni Fikir" (New Thought) Youth Association, kept in Colony No. 1.

The rights of forced migrants in Georgia are violated since the country's leadership lacks clear programme and coordinated actions, as well as due legislation on how to tackle their problems. This was stated by lawyer Simon Papuashvili, coordinator of the project on rendering legal aid to refugees at the Human Rights Centre, in his interview to the Caucasian Knot correspondent.

On Tuesday, December 16, the Nariman District Court of Baku, presided by Judge Turgay Guseinova resumed consideration of the claim lodged by the religious community "Believers of Nariman District" versus Nariman District Police Department. The believers want to restart attending the "Abu-Bekr" Mosque, which was subjected to armed attack on August 17 this year, when a grenade exploded inside killing two persons and wounding 13 more.

For a long time the authorities of Kabardino-Balkaria fail to pay "combat" bonuses and overtime money to servicemen and equated persons, which are due to them under the federal legislation for performing their duties in reinforcement periods and extra work. In many cases the indebtedness term reaches up to 10 years. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Timur Bogatyryov, Director General of the "Hermes" legal firm.

The verdict of guilty in the "Case of Seven" lacks evidences, which could justify sending the case to the court, runs the letter of a group of advocates to Thomas Hammarberg, Supreme Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, about the violations and drawbacks found in the verdict of guilty.

At the closed hearing of the ad hoc commission of the National Assembly of Armenia for studying events on March 1, General-Lieutenant Grigor Grigoryan, ex-commander of internal troops, has confessed that on March 1 in the evening he gave an order to the sniper "to neutralize" the armed participants of the rally.

The life of Sarkis Atspanyan who started as of December 1 his termless hunger strike is in danger. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by human rights activist Vardan Arutyunyan, a member of the Committee in Defence of Political Prisoners.

The judicial process on the murder of observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" Anna Politkovskaya has announced a break till December 17. Today, at the Moscow Regional Military Court, the defence has started presenting evidences of the defendants' innocence.