Police in Moscow and several other Russian cities have searched the homes of artists as part of an investigation into an unspecified treason case that local media reports said involved Pyotr Verzilov, a founder of the Pussy Riot protest group and the former publisher of the Mediazona website.
A Bishkek court on March 12 ordered eight of 11 reporters from the Temirov Live investigative group to pretrial detention until at least May 13 for allegedly calling for mass riots, a charge the journalists reject. Three journalists were transferred to house arrest.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has found that candidate Moldova has fulfilled two out of three conditions necessary for opening accession talks.
Prosecutors in the case of the abduction and murder of Tajikistan's top banker Shohrat Ismatulloev have asked the Supreme Court of the Central Asian nation to convict and sentence four of 14 defendants to life in prison.