News

On the occasion of Saint George's Day, Georgian President, Salome Zurabishvili, has pardoned eight convicts – three prisoners were completely released from serving their sentences; and five others had their terms halved.

Marches in memory of those who perished in the Great Patriotic War will be held in Georgian cities on May 9 with observance of the social distance, organizers have announced.

Bairam Mamedov, an Azerbaijani activist, whose body was found in the sea near Istanbul, perished in an accident, the local police said. Mamedov's friends have questioned this version.

Elchin Gasymov, the leader of the Azerbaijani "Muslim Unity" movement, denies the information of his colleagues about his detention. He said that he was at home and explained the impossibility to contact him by disconnection of the phone.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, sees his mission to work in the republic and does not want to become President of Russia, since Russia already has "the best president in the world," he said on the Instagram.

The Moscow Region World War II veteran organization demanded to dismantle a monument to Armenian military and statesman Garegin Nzhde, erected in Martuni after the entry of Russian peacekeepers into the Karabakh conflict zone. Vitaly Balasanyan, the secretary for the Security Council of Nagorno-Karabakh, also spoke out for dismantling of the monument, but Martuni MPs refused.

After the autumn aggravation of the Karabakh conflict, 2051 hectares of territory have been already cleared, 18,600 unexploded bombs have been defused, and the road from Fizuli to Shusha has been almost cleared of mines, the authorities of Azerbaijan report.

In the Kurchaloi District, the police reprimanded 14 detained drivers for tinting their cars, the chief of the local police department reported. Part of Instagram users criticized the Chechen law enforcement bodies for persecuting drivers of tinted cars.

Law enforcers have detained Elchin Gasymov, the head of the Azerbaijani "Muslim Unity" movement before his speech on air of an oppositional TV channel, Rufat Safarov, a human rights defender and Gasymov's associate, has stated.

On May 5, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs approved the extradition of three prisoners of war (POWs) to Armenia and called on Azerbaijan to complete the return of the Armenian soldiers captured in Nagorno-Karabakh to their homeland.

Members of the Latvia’s Saeima (parliament) passed a declaration on the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The document resulted from a discussion between historians, the press service for the Latvia’s Saeima notes.

Adam Elzhurkaev, the head of the Centre for Islamic Medicine, has scolded two women and a man who were repeatedly detained by law enforcers for providing occult services, the "Grozny" TV Channel has reported. Social network users have agreed with the reporters that the persecution of sorcerers in Chechnya yields no results.

Ingush law enforcers have offered state protection to Magomed Khazbiev, an activist, against whom Magomed Daudov, Speaker of the Chechen Parliament, and Adam Delimkhanov, a State Duma MP, have announced a blood feud. The activist said that he refused from law enforcers' services.

The Presidium of the Azerbaijani Bar Association (ABA) has recalled the lawsuit against the lawyers, Shakhla Gumbatova, Irada Djavadova and Tyurkel Suleimanly, allowing them to restart their work.

Tigran Khzmalyan, the leader of the European Party of Armenia, and a party supporter were detained at the Russian Embassy before the start of the action against the visit of Sergey Lavrov, the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The National Democratic Pole refused to march against Lavrov's visit to Yerevan in order to avoid provocations and clashes.

At the meeting at the Spiritual Administration of Muslims, the young man and his father have apologized to the Mufti of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) and republic's Imams for beating up two men who drank alcohol. This was announced by Alim Sizhazhev, a Deputy Mufti.

Participants of an action near the building of the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) dated their protest to a visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The protestors demand a meeting with the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The MFA should activate diplomatic processes so that residents of Gadrut could return home, forced migrants note.

Regular soldier Artyom Melkonyan was killed at a combat position by a shot from his colleague, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Armenia reported. Investigation into a criminal case on the careless handling of firearms is underway.

Total corruption in Chechen maternity hospitals and other hospitals is a well-known fact, but officials fail to fight the problem, Instagram users note. In their comments, some users fear they will be forced to apologize for voicing criticism.

On May 4, at their protest action held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, near the parliament building, relatives of those convicted under the so-called "Ganja case" demanded to release the convicts. Prior to parliamentary elections, candidates for MPs had promised to help the prisoners, but after the voting they forgot about them, activists assert.