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Examinations showed that General Manvel Grigoryan accused of embezzlement does not suffer of any diseases incompatible with the arrest, report investigators. Manvel Grigoryan should be released, since the arrest adversely affects his health, the defence insists.

During the shelling attacks on March 20-21, units of the Armed Forces of Armenia used large-calibre machine guns, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for Azerbaijan reported.

Protests of taxi drivers in the capital of Georgia will not entail a postponement of the introduction of new rules, according to which taxi cars should be painted white, announces Vice-Mayor Irakli Khmaladze.

The sanctions list compiled by Ukraine includes three citizens of Abkhazia and five citizens of South Ossetia who observed the elections in the Donbass in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DNR and LNR, respectively), which Kiev treats as illegal separatist entities.

In Rostov-on-Don, the court began to consider the case against Aslan Yandiev, accused of committing two terror acts in North Ossetia. Public prosecutors suggest Aslan Yandiev had links with militants of Shamil Basaev, and the defendant completely denies the guilt.

A repeated application has been submitted to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Ingushetia for registration of an initiative group to hold a referendum on the issue of the border with Chechnya. This was announced by Magomed Mutsolgov, a rights defender, who chaired the sitting of the initiative group.

On March 19, the Chechen TV showed a video with Akhmat Kadyrov, filmed in 1999, in which he criticized the situation in the republic and the invasion of militants in Dagestan. The TV's initiative is intended to strengthen the image of Ramzan Kadyrov's father, shaken after the statements of the blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov, residents of the republic say.

Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", will be able to apply for the conditional early relief (CER) in seven weeks if he does not appeal against his verdict. The CER will allow him to continue working in Chechnya or in any other region of Russia, Pyotr Zaikin, an advocate, and Oleg Orlov, a board member of the HRC "Memorial" have explained.

The tenth official celebration of the Circassian New Year is scheduled for March 21 in Maikop, the capital of Adygea. The holiday, which was originally considered a family one, over the years united the Adygs (Circassians) and interested other nations, scientists believe.

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.