Watchdog

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sacked the country's representative to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Kremlin's press service didn't give any reasons for Veronika Milinchuk's dismissal.

Russian media speculate she was fired because she had failed to protect Russia's interests at the court.

Her sacking came as the court ordered Russia to pay some $275,000 to the relatives of several Chechen men abducted by Russian troops in 2000 and 2002.

Russia's Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika says the court ordered Moscow to pay almost $7 million in compensation to its citizens in 2007 alone.

A successor to Milinchuk has not yet been named.

RFE/RL commentator Sazak Durdymuradov has been released following two weeks of detention in Turkmenistan, part of the time at an infamous psychiatric hospital in the remote east.

An Ashgabat correspondent for RFE/RL's Turkmen Service spoke to Durdymuradov's family, who confirmed his return home to the town of Baharden on July 4.

Durdymuradov's son, Atajan, says his father is in good health. That's despite reports that Durdymuradov was beaten and tortured while in custody for not signing a statement pledging never to work for RFE/RL again.

Read more about Durdymuradov's release here.