The parliament of North Ossetia–Alania has re-elected Sergei Menyailo as head of the republic for a second five-year term. Sixty-six deputies took part in the vote: 61 backed the incumbent, while five voted for Oleg Varnavin, deputy general director of Selengaуголь LLC. No one voted for the third candidate, Chermen Dudati, a regional parliament deputy and director of the V. V. Tkhapsaev North Ossetian Academic Theatre.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed an order pardoning 801 people. It is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of former President Heydar Aliyev.
Among those released, only two political prisoners are Ali Aliyev, leader of the Citizens and Development Party, and human rights activist Elchin Mamed. At the same time, dozens of activists of the Popular Front Party, which had been subjected to mass repression in recent years, have not been pardoned. There is no list of journalists and bloggers, nor of activists deported from Germany and convicted on drug charges.
"This pardon did not solve the problem of political prisoners, and it is difficult to call it an act of humanism," said the leader of the human rights organization «Defense Line» Rufat Safarov.