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The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia has denied the initiative of a group of activists to hold a referendum on the construction of a cascade of hydroelectric power plants (HPPs) in Namakhvani, the "News-Georgia" Agency has reported today citing the CEC.

Out of the 47 recorded violations, in which there are crime attributes, 41 are associated with the voting process, four with voters' bribery, and three with the direction of voters, the Armenian Police have announced.

Every week, citizens of Azerbaijan are taken home from the "Ogonyok" camp located in the Kaitag District of Dagestan, but 400 people are still in the camp, the district administration has informed.

Relatives of seven arrested opponents of the construction of the Namakhvan hydroelectric power plant (HPP) have held a march in Batumi. At the building of the Adjara Government, they had clashes with policemen; at least four activists were detained.

The UN should not only declare the refugees' right to return to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but also seek from Russia to provide such an opportunity, Beso Shengeliya, a lawyer, has stated. Georgia is blocking discussion of this problem with authorities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Paata Zakareishvili, a former Georgia's State Minister for Civil Reconciliation, has stated in his turn.

The "Civil Contract" Party, headed by Nikol Pashinyan, the Acting Prime Minister, after the processing of all the ballot papers cast at the early elections to the Armenian parliament, has gained 53.92 percent of the votes, the country's Central Election Commission (CEC) has informed.

The Supreme Court (SC) of Azerbaijan has appointed the consideration of the complaint lodged by the journalist, Afghan Sadygov, for July 2. The journalist is on hunger strike for 227 days and is in grave condition; he may not live to see the trial, his wife Sevindj Sadygova fears. She intends to seek asylum for her family abroad.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has begun considering the complaint of Deacon Giorgi Mamaladze about the closed nature of the trial in Georgia and the violation of the presumption of innocence. The convict needs urgent medical care, but this failed to speed up the communication on the case, the NGO "Centre for Social Justice" has regretted.

A criminal case is being prepared against Elez Merzhoev, who was arrested after his conflict in a cafe with Aina Getagazova, a singer, on intentional infliction of minor harm to one's health. Instagram users have linked the doctors' conclusion about Getagazova's trauma with corruption and called on to punish hospital managers.

Participants of the action in support of Robert Kocharyan's "Ayastan" bloc have called on not to admit vote rigging at the upcoming early parliamentary elections in Armenia. During the election campaign, two opposing favourites can be outlined; and it is impossible to predict which of them will win, political analysts forecast.

Russian peacemakers have accompanied six columns of Azerbaijani militaries across the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh: four motor columns – along the Lachin Corridor, and two others – in the direction of the Fizuli District, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has informed.

A Chechen Instagram public has posted a video in which a teenager from the Stavropol Territory apologizes to Ramzan Kadyrov for insulting him. Some social network users were outraged by the fact that the person who was filming the video inflicted several blows on the teen.

The so-called "prophylactic registration" means constant policemen's visits and calls, and relatives' questioning; it interferes with living and working, Marat Shiraev, a resident of Makhachkala, who has been checked by law enforcers for several years, has stated.

The defence of Georgy Guev, a resident of North Ossetia, intends to seek a mitigation or cancellation of the verdict passed on his case, his advocate has stated. In their turn, rights defenders believe that the practice shows that it is practically impossible to change a court judgement on the case of financing terrorism.

For the first time, Georgia has acted as a mediator in the Karabakh conflict by facilitating the return home of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) in exchange for minefield maps. The role of Azerbaijani-Armenian mediator will increase Georgia's status in the international arena, but it is associated with some risk, political analysts have noted.

Authors of the investigation into the secret real estate of Ramzan Kadyrov’s associates removed from the video footage of the Chechen “Grozny” TV Channel, which claimed intellectual property rights.

With the resumption of overland communication with Turkey, Batumi opened casinos, which suffered significant losses during the quarantine. The border is also open for Adjarian entrepreneurs, but some of them went bankrupt before the quarantine measures were mitigated.

It is not a solution to report threats to participants of a gay pride parade every year, and the police must ensure the possibility of holding the march, says Georgia’s Ombudsperson Nino Lomdjariya. LGBT activists should be refused in holding the “March of Dignity”, notes Irakli Kobakhidze, the chairman of the “Georgian Dream” Party.

In Chechnya, the vaccination process is haphazard, and among others, people with chronic diseases also get vaccines, which can lead to health problems, a doctor says. Schoolchildren and employees of public institutions are being persuaded to get vaccinated under the threat of being denied access to studies and working places, local residents complain.

Three Russian businessmen of Armenian origin have been accused of illegal supply of weapons for conducting hostilities against Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has announced.