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The former head of the police used light and noise grenades to disperse demonstrators in April 2018, investigators assert. Levon Eranosyan would not plead guilty; his defence demands to interrogate the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan.

Alabama has become the 49th US state to recognize the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. Mississippi remains the only state that has not.

The arrest extension by two months has been appealed against at the Court of Appeal, the advocates of the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, have reported.

A Moscow court has upheld its decision to fine Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the Civil Assistance Committee by 10,000 roubles, after she was detained at an action demanding the release Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

In connection with the celebration of Novruz Bayram, March 20-26 were declared non-working days in Azerbaijan. For the first time in many years, President Ilham Aliev refused from official celebrative events in favour of informal communication with residents of Baku. Rights defenders have linked the massive pardoning of political prisoners on the eve of Novruz-Bayram with changes in authorities' policies.

Oleg Umarov, the founder of the "Dobro Cherkessov" (Circassians' Wealth) charitable foundation, participated in the movement in support of Senator Rauf Arashukov, said Timur Zhuzhuev, the chairman of the youth branch of the "Adyge Khase" of the Kabardian people.

Units of the Armed Forces of Armenia have violated the ceasefire regime in different sections of the frontline for 29 times, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported.

The absence of Kremlin's response to Magomed Daudov's threats to Tumso Abdurakhmanov can change the situation of other asylum seekers from Chechnya, says Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the Civil Assistance Committee.

Armenian rights defenders and activists have held an action at the Iranian Embassy in Armenia in support for Iranian rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh. They demanded to release her and stop persecuting women because of their refusal to wear hijabs.

The European Union (EU), the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe), the US Embassy in Baku and international human rights organizations have welcomed the clemency of 51 political prisoners in Azerbaijan, pointing to the need to release the rest of them. However, rights defenders have cautioned that until the country's repressive system itself is dismantled, it is not worth exaggerating the value of pardoning.

The verdict passed to Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", has shown that Russian authorities are making use of police and courts for political persecutions, the Rapporteurs of the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) assert.

The investigator has closed the case of torturing four residents of Anapa after their detention, having decided that they tried to slander law enforcers. For 15 months of the inquiry, no suspects appeared in the case, the "Committee against Torture" (CaT) has noted.

Six members of the student movement "Restart Times" were charged with attempting to kidnap Narek Malyan, an opposition video blogger.

Law enforcers accused two activists of disobedience to policemen and another one  of occupying a land plot without permission. The other five participants of the rally in support of the head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" office in Grozny were released without charges.

The parliament of the Italian Region of Lazio adopted a resolution recognizing the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

The case against Anar Mamedov, the editor-in-chief of the website "Criminalaz", who was subjected to a suspended sentence, should be reviewed, believes the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. Having pardoned the sentenced activists, the Azerbaijani authorities are "freeing up places in prisons" for new political prisoners, states the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS).

Alvi Karimov, the press secretary to the leader of Chechnya, and Djambulat Umarov, Chechen Minister for National Policy, declared the Oyub Titiev's sentence mitigated in comparison with the prosecutors' request the evidence that the Chechen leaders had not interfered in the trial. The authorities have achieved their goal: they have forced independent human rights organizations out of the region, residents of Chechnya believe.

Imam Makhmud Velitov, sentenced for justifying terrorism, is hospitalized, reports the Department for the Astrakhan Region of the Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN). Prison doctors are to decide whether the transfer of the prisoner to a civilian hospital is justified.

Givi Beruashvili, a resident of the Ditsi village on the border with South Ossetia, was released, the State Security Service of Georgia reported.

On March 18, the Constitutional Court of Ingushetia found the provision stipulating that internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Chechnya, who received monetary compensation, are not eligible to receive housing contradicts the basic law of the republic.