News

Turkish police have found in the sea the body of Bairam Mamedov, who had been persecuted in Azerbaijan for graffiti on the monument to Geidar Aliev, his friends have informed.

Restoration is underway in the Church of the Holy Christ the All-Saviour in Shusha in order to restore its historical appearance, the Azerbaijani authorities have claimed. The MPs from the National Assembly (Parliament) of Armenia had treated the dome dismantling as an attempt to eradicate the Armenian appearance of the city.

In North-Caucasian republics, certain residents are honouring Joseph Stalin, because they mistakenly associate him with the notion of "social justice", which they have despaired to obtain from the current authorities, historians have noted.

On May 4, three Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) kept by Azerbaijan were taken by plane from Baku to Yerevan and sent to the hospital for examination.

Because of a resolution about state protection, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev, arrested in Chechnya, have been transferred to another block of the SIZO (pre-trial prison), in which video recording is made in the corridors, while because of the threat of an "honour killing" investigators have prohibited their relatives to visit them.

The parliamentary opposition gave no reason to doubt its compliance with the agreements with the Armenian authorities; and the acting Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, fully controls the situation in the country, political analysts believe.

In a video posted in the social network, young men have asked to forgive them for attacking, in the Tersky District of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), two men who were drinking alcohol.

Magomed Daudov, the speaker of the Chechen parliament, and Adam Delimkhanov, a member of the State Duma, declared a blood feud after a video criticizing the Chechen authorities for their harsh reaction to the terror act in Grozny, Ingush activist Magomed Khazbiev reports today.

More than 100 political prisoners remain in Azerbaijani prisons, announces the human rights organization “Line of Defence”. The NGO urges President Ilham Aliev to time the pardoning of political prisoners to the holy month of Ramadan. Other human rights defenders supported the call.

On May 3, in Makhachkala, two solo pickets demanding freedom for Abdulmumin Gadjiev, the arrested journalist of the "Chernovik" (Draft) weekly, were held by his colleagues Magomed Magomedov and Magdi Kamalov. During the pickets, Magomedramazan Abdulkerimov, a Dagestani MP, called on the head of Dagestan to pay attention to the emergency state of rural schools.

The film "Quiet Voice" about the fate of a homosexual from Chechnya has won the Grand Prix of the "Artdocfest" documentary film festival. In Russia, the screening of the film, the premiere show of which was disrupted, never took place, the organizers of the festival have reported today.

In the city of Shusha that came under Azerbaijan's control after the last autumn Karabakh conflict aggravation, the domes of the Surb Kazanchetsots Church were dismantled. The city may lose its Armenian appearance, residents of Nagorno-Karabakh are concerned.

In Azerbaijan, university students have held an action against the new exam system, which, in their opinion, has aggravated the students' situation. Five protesters were detained.

Colonel-General Movses Akopyan, the former head of the military control service of the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD), who had criticized the authorities in connection with the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, is under recognizance not to leave on charges of divulging state secrets.

On the Revival Day of Karachai People, residents of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) are using the Instagram for posting stories about their relatives who had survived the 14-year-long exile. Family stories about those who returned to their homeland after deportation are posted under the hashtag #we'erback.

Complaints have been sent to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about the killings of 19 Armenian citizens who had been captured by Azerbaijan. Among them, seven were military and other 12 were civilians, reports Artak Zeinalyan, who represents the interests of Armenian citizens at the Strasbourg Court.

In the town of Dagestanskie Ogni, a bust of Joseph Stalin has been dismantled, because local Communists installed it without a sanction from the authorities, the Mayor reports. The Stalin bust will be returned to the pedestal when the documents for its installation are completed, the leader of the CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) faction in the Dagestani parliament promises.

Karabakh rescuers found the remains of a soldier killed during the combat actions. The total number of found bodies of combatants from the Armenian side reached 1553.

Following an agreement with the ruling faction, oppositional members of the Armenian parliament, did not elect Nikol Pashinyan as the prime minister in order to provide conditions for the dissolution of the Armenian parliament and early parliamentary elections.

Today, refugees from the Kashatag District have held a protest action in front of the Armenian government building. The protestors demand to fulfil the decisions on assistance to forced migrants already approved by the government.