Watchdog

PERM, Russia -- Jailed Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina has had one of two prison reprimands dismissed.

Her appeal was heard in a Perm Oblast Court.

Since receiving a two-year jail sentence for hooliganism over an anti-Putin stunt in an Orthodox church in the capital, Alyokhina has received four reprimands for violating the penitentiary's internal rules.

Two of the reprimands were dismissed in court earlier this year.

Reprimands could prevent her possible early release on parole.

A parole hearing is scheduled for May 22.

Alyokhina and another Pussy Riot member, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, are serving similar two-year jail sentences.

They were arrested in February 2012 after performing what they called a "punk prayer" against President Vladimir Putin at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.

The jail sentences were widely criticized by the United States, the European Union, and many top entertainers.

BAKU -- Azerbaijani scholar Khalida Khalid* and her driver have been released following nearly three weeks in Iranian custody after their detention at the home of an ethnic Azeri activist.

Azerbaijani lawmaker Eldar Ibrahimov, who is currently in Iran, told RFE/RL that the two Azerbaijani nationals were freed on May 19.

Iran's ambassador in Baku also confirmed that information.

Azerbaijan's consulate in Tabriz has been demanding the release of Khalid and her driver since their April 30 arrest in that city, along with four Iranian activists of Azerbaijani origin.

Relations between Baku and Tehran have been strained in recent months, and Iranian authorities are wary of ethnically charged grievances in the region.

Last year, two Azerbaijani citizens were arrested in Tabriz and held for several months for allegedly promoting separatism in the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan arrested 22 people last year and accused them of spying for Iran.


*CORRECTED: A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled Ms. Khalid's first and last names, omitting the "k."

With reporting by apa.az