Watchdog

Two former members of the Russian punk performance-art group Pussy Riot are reportedly seeking compensation from the Kremlin for "violation of their rights to freely express their opinions, to personal immunity, and to a fair trial."

The "Vedomosti" newspaper on July 28 reported that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina filed their lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg last week.

They are demanding 120,000 euros ($161,000) each, plus 10,000 euros as compensation of legal costs.

The two were convicted of hooliganism and sentenced to two years in jail in 2012 after staging a performance against Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

They were released as part of an amnesty in December 2013, two months before the end of their terms.

With reporting by vedomosti.ru

The health of Kazakh lawyer Zinaida Mukhortova, who was forcibly put into a psychiatric clinic, is reportedly deteriorating.

Mukhortova's sister, Natalya Abent, told RFE/RL on July 25 that the lawyer has red eyes and is not able to properly move because her body is swollen.

Abent said her sister's health problems were caused by medication administered to her in the clinic.

Mukhortova was detained and placed in the clinic on July 2 after she had returned to Balkash from self-imposed exile in Russia.

Mukhortova, 56, fled Kazakhstan in December after a Qaraghandy regional court rejected her appeal to cancel her forced psychiatric treatment.

Mukhortova was forced to undergo psychiatric treatment twice in 2012 and 2013.

She insisted the legal actions against her were politically motivated.

Mukhortova said authorities investigated her mental competence only after she filed complaints against a high-ranking local official.