In a grave setback for relatives of slain Ingush oppositionist Magomed Yevloyev, the Ingush High Court decided on Tuesday to significantly lighten the sentence of the oppositionist’s killer.

Ibragim Yevloyev, of no relation to his victim, was the former police officer sentenced late last year to two years in a penal colony for what was ruled to be the “accidental” killing of Magomed Yevloyev.

A Russian magazine is being sued by an elite police subdivision in response to an article accusing them of forcing migrant workers to work without pay, reports Ekho Moskvy radio.

The article, which was published on Monday by the New Times magazine, is based on allegations made by former police officer Larisa Krepkova, who left the elite Zubr subdivision of the Russian Internal Ministry’s OMON security forces a year and a half ago due to illness. According to Krepkova, officers from the unit would travel to Moscow’s Yaroslavskoye Highway to recruit migrant workers, who were then brought to the Zubr base in the nearby region of Shchelkovo. There, they were forced to dig ditches, set up fences, and clean toilets without pay, even though Official invoices included tallies of the cost of labor.

Eric Sottas, Secretary General of The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) send a letter to Dmitry Medvedev, President of Russia, on their serious concerns about the fate of Messrs. Ali Dzhaniev, Magomed Adzhiev, Yusup Dobriev and Yunus Dobriev.

On 27 February 2010 Vadim Karasteleyov (aged 44), an expert with Novorossiysk Human Rights Committee, was assaulted by two people armed with clubs. He has suffered serious head injuries and was taken to hospital where he was operated the same day. Doctors find his condition as serious.