Watchdog

The United States has welcomed the release of two Ukrainian opposition leaders and allies of the jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

On April 7, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych pardoned former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, who was imprisoned for embezzlement and ordering illegal surveillance of suspects while investigating the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko just before the latter's 2004 presidential election victory over Yanukovych.

Lutsenko's health has deteriorated since his arrest in early 2010.

Also pardoned was the former environment minister, Heorhiy Filipchuk, who was imprisoned for abuse of office.

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In Washington, National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden said the move was an "important step toward addressing concerns about democracy and the rule of law in Ukraine."

Acting deputy State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell, meanwhile, repeated calls for the release of Tymoshenko.

In Brussels on April 8, Peter Stano, the spokesman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, said the presidential pardons on April 7 for Lutsenko and Filipchuk were a "first important step, but not the final one."

Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax

Russian journalist Mikhail Beketov, who was beaten nearly to death in 2008, has died in Moscow.

He was 55.

His lawyer, Stalina Gurevich, said on April 8 that her client had died in the town of Khimki near Moscow.

Several reports suggested he died in hospital after choking when food got caught in his breathing tube or throat.

Beketov, the editor in chief of a local Khimki newspaper called "Khimkinskaya pravda," had uncovered alleged largescale corruption surrounding the controversial construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway through the Khimki Forest.

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He was savagely beaten outside his home in November 2008 and left wheelchair-bound and unable to speak due to brain damage.

In 2010, a Khimki court convicted Beketov of slander in a case brought by the town's mayor in 2007.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic expressed sorrow following the news of Beketov's death.

"I offer my condolences to Mikhail Beketov’s relatives, colleagues and friends," Mijatovic said in a statement. "I regret that he did not live to see his attackers brought to justice. Those who try to silence journalists cannot be allowed to do so with impunity. I repeat my call to the Russian authorities to track down and prosecute those responsible."

His attackers have never been identified.

Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS, Interfax, AP, and AFP