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By the evening of April 22, the countries of Southern Caucasus, including the unrecognized republics, counted 3417 coronavirus infected patients; 1518 of them are in Azerbaijan, and 1473 – in Armenia.

The international organization "Reporters Without Borders" (RWB) has called on the Azerbaijani authorities to release Natig Isbatov, arrested on charges of violating the quarantine regime.

The Prosecutor's Office claimed that Bagaudin Myakiev took part in a rally in Magas out of political reasons and convinced the court to sentence the activist to imprisonment not in a settlement penal colony, but in a common-security penal colony. Given the period of the defendant's stay in a SIZO (pre-trial prison), the sentence of the Ingush activist increased by four months, an advocate calculated.

Most members of the Georgian parliament approved a decision to extend the state of emergency until May 22. The opposition criticized the measure as ill-conceived.

Law enforcers began checking the information about two men who had been deceived and forced to work at a sheep shed in the Tarumovsky District, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Dagestan reported.

In Vanadzor, for the second day, prisoners refuse to accept food in protest against prolonged trials and charges in their cases.

Unidentified persons have gained access to the accounts in the WhatsApp and Telegram messengers belonging to Ali Kerimli, the leader of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), the party has stated.

Sergey Lavrov, the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has announced the stages of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, mentioning the liberation of the areas around the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). Armenia will never resort to unilateral concessions, Zograb Mnatsakanyan, the head of the Armenian MFA, has stated, in his turn.

An Azerbaijani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, or drone) was shot down on April 21 during its reconnaissance flight over the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), its militaries have reported.

Because of the threat of coronavirus spread, the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) has suspended collective prayers in mosques. Ismail Berdiev, the Mufti, has urged his fellow countrymen to pray at home during the fasting month of Ramadan.

Help to those in need is welcomed in Islam; there are even special taxes aimed to raise funds to support the poor, Islamic scholars have noted in their comments to the criticism expressed by Chechen authorities concerning the woman who raised money for her daughter's treatment.

In the city of Gelendzhik, law enforcers beat up and tortured Denis Karimov, a resident of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), trying to knock confessions out of him, says the complaint sent by the Committee against Torture (CaT) to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

Advocates of Khumaid Khaidaev, a native of Chechnya, have demanded from the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) and the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) to check the information that Khumaid was brutally tortured after the inmates' riots in the Irkutsk Region. Khaidaev, convicted in 2008, was preparing for release from colony and could not be the organizer of the riots, his brother has suggested.

Nine Russian and international human rights organizations asked the Rapporteur on human rights in Northern Caucasus to register threats voiced by the leader of Chechnya against Elena Milashina, a journalist of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta".

Soldiers entered the Nadterechny District of Chechnya, set up camps near several villages, and arranged checkpoints, local residents reported. The Southern Federal District (SFD) claims that no additional forces were introduced into the republic.

By April 21, the regions of Southern Russia registered 49 deceased patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Of them, at least seven died within last 24 hours. Dagestan, where 11 people have died since the beginning of the epidemic, continues to show the highest death toll among the regions of Southern Russia.

Law enforcers tortured Khikmet Agaev, an arrested activist of the movement "Muslim Unity", claimed Arzu Abdullah, a member of the Public Committee for the Protection of Rights of Arrested Islamists. Human rights defenders treat the activist's arrest as politically motivated.

A court in Baku refused to satisfy the defence's complaint against the arrest of the oppositional politician, Tofig Yagublu. The activist himself said that his arrest was preceded by his publications criticizing the authorities.

There are many contradictions in the case of torturing Rustam Kuchmenov, a resident of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), the lawyers of the Committee against Torture (CaT) have noted and sent a complaint against the dismissal of the case to the court. Kuchmenov's father told about signs of beatings on his son's body and noted that this is not the first incident involving law enforcers.

The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has demanded to ensure state protection of the journalist, Elena Milashina, and initiate a criminal case against the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. The rights defenders' appeal was signed by over a hundred people.