Watchdog

Russia's Supreme Court has annulled the records of arrest, conviction, and sentence of two activists who demonstrated against President Vladimir Putin's reelection on Moscow's Bolotnaya Square in 2012.

The court issued the ruling on October 5 after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled last month that the arrests of Ilya Gushchin, Artyom Savelov, and another Bolotnaya protester, Leonid Kovyazin, were illegal.

The ECHR granted financial compensation of up to 3,000 euros ($3,360) for each of the three activists.

More than 400 people have been detained and several dozen people prosecuted in connection with the Bolotnaya protest.

In February 2014, the three activists and five other Bolotnaya protesters were found guilty of hooliganism and given prison sentences. Some of them were suspended sentences.

Gushchin and Savelov’s prison terms have already expired.

Based on reporting by TASS and Rapsinews

Turkey has suspended some 12,800 police officers over their alleged links to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Turkish national police said on October 4 that more than 2,500 of the suspended officers were police chiefs.

Tens of thousands of people have been dismissed or suspended from government jobs since July's failed coup, while some 32,000 people have been arrested in connection with the coup bid.

The Turkish government accuses Gulen of masterminding the coup, which he denies.

Ankara in turn rejects claims that it is using the coup as an excuse to get rid of its opponents.

On October 3, the government announced that a state of emergency imposed shortly after the coup attempt would be extended by three months when it expires on October 19.

The measure allows the president and cabinet to rule by decree.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP