Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 28.04.21:

The package of bills on amendments and additions to the Criminal Code and related laws implies criminal liability in cases when the voting results at election precincts are declared invalid due to interference in and obstruction of the electoral process.

Criminal liability will be imposed also for obstructing the election campaign, and using violence or threatening to use violence at or near the polling stations.

It is proposed also to impose criminal liability for publishing false information about a party, party bloc, or a candidate running in an election, in cases where this action was carried out for commercial purposes.

  • The Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan conveyed a video message to their families through the International Committee of the Red Cross.

According to Zara Amatuni, representative of the ICRC office in Armenia told NEWS.am, such a means of communication is used for the first time.

Preventing the entrance of the faithful to Dadivank with obviously false and idle pretexts, the Azerbaijani military aimed to overturn the significant sacred ceremony of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Thus, the Azerbaijani side violated the agreement reached through the mediation of Russian peacekeepers. According to the agreement, the Armenian faithful can freely access and perform spiritual ceremonies in the Dadivank Monastery.

  • Freedom House human rights organization has published the 2021 report of the Nations in Transit, according to which Armenia's score declined for the first time since the revolution in 2018. 

Armenia is ranked as a state with a semi-consolidated authoritarian regime. 

"In Armenia, the war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh has triggered a domestic crisis that risks undoing the success of the 2018 Velvet Revolution," the report said. "The country’s democracy score declined for the first time since the revolution, and developments to date this year, including tensions between the military and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, demonstrate that the situation could grow worse."

"But one thing is clear that opening the border of Armenia with Turkey today will deal a big blow to our agriculture because our two agricultures are rivals, and it is obvious that Turkey’s agriculture is in a better condition, in larger volumes, and Turkey’s government provides much bigger subsidies. It is virtually not done in Armenia, and the abolition of the Ministry of Agriculture left the sector completely ownerless.

This means that if the border opens now, the situation of our villagers in the Ararat Valley will be just awful. Their product will not be competitive in terms of price.

Before opening the border, at least a few years are needed to raise the level of your agriculture, bring the level of subsidies to the same level, protect your market with various taxes, after which you can only think about opening the border," Kocharyan noted.

Those gathered at the scene said that the deceased was a former police officer.

  • As of Wednesday morning, 808 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 214,872 in the country, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Also, 13 more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 4,071 cases.

The number of people who have recovered over the past one day is 588, the total respective number so far is 196,289, and the number of people currently being treated is 13,503—which is an increase by 206 in one day.

And 4,807 COVID-19 tests were conducted in Armenia over the past one day, while 974,776 such tests have been performed to date.

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday he was likely to discuss the Donbass conflict at a summit with Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin chief recently expressed a willingness to meet Zelenskyy in Moscow.

Last week, Russia began pullback on a troop buildup on the borders. The deployment had prompted fears in Ukraine and drew backlash from the West.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russia separatists picked up again earlier this year.