Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 23.12.2020:

Yesterday and today the opposition declared student and workers’ strikes. In addition, after yesterday’s rally, some demonstrators pitched tents and spent the night at Republic Square.

Protests continued as of Wednesday afternoon.

  • Artak Beglaryan, who is resigning from the post of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) ombudsman Wednesday, had a briefing on Wednesday.

According to him, Azerbaijan hides the real number of captured Armenians.

He also noted that Azerbaijan has so far returned 53 Armenian POWs—including women, two elderly Armenian men have died in Azerbaijani prisons and there is evidence of their violent death, the vast majority of Armenian returnees report physical and psychological abuse, and most of them are still in hospitals.

He also noted that Azerbaijan's military aggression has caused at least $2 billion in direct damage to Artsakh.

According to Beglaryan, more than 15,000 homes, 4,000 public facilities and infrastructures—including schools and hospitals—, and 2,500 vehicles were either damaged or collapsed as a result of this aggression.

  • The bodies of another 14 Armenian servicemen were found Tuesday during the search operations in the Hadrut and Jabrayil regions.

The bodies of over 1,060 fallen Armenian servicemen have been retrieved so far.

According to attorney Yervand Varosyan, the criminal case is linked to the detention of three citizens of Kajaran. Paramazyan was charged with allegedly kidnapping someone along with those three citizens. This is totally absurd.

Varosyan also informed that the preliminary investigation body has decided to file a motion with the court to choose arrest as a pre-trial measure.

Meanwhile, Armenia Police Colonel Sayat Shirinyan has been apprehended and taken to the police station in the Arabkir district of Yerevan.

Saghatelyan noted that this was probably connected with Tuesday’s police statement, according to which the police had observed features of a crime in his speech during the opposition rally yesterday.

  • Presidents of Russia and France Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron held phone talks during which they discussed the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh, the Kremlin’s press service reported.

Putin noted that the situation in the region is becoming stable, and overall, the agreements specified in the November 9 statement by the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are being successfully implemented.

The parties affirmed their willingness to continue coordination surrounding various aspects of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, particularly within the OSCE Minsk Group.

  • One of the best football players in the history of Armenia, Arkady Andreasyan, has passed away Tuesday night aged 73.

The information was confirmed to NEWS.am Sport by the family of the legendary footballer.

The former midfielder of FC Ararat Yerevan and the ex-USSR national squad died of heart problems.