Page 6 - Stephen Capus News Today

A Moscow court on January 26 rejected the latest appeal by U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich over his pretrial detention on an espionage charge that he, his employer The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), and the U.S. government reject.

EU Council President Charles Michel won't seek a seat in the European Parliament and will instead remain in his job, he said on January 26.

Despite repeated requests from RFE/RL, the U.S. State Department has not yet officially designated Alsu Kurmasheva as "wrongfully detained," as it has done with Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, both of whom are U.S. citizens currently held in Russian jails.

A group of Kazakh lawmakers approved a draft bill on January 25 that would allow the Central Asian nation's authorities to refuse accreditation to foreign media outlets and their reporters on grounds of national security concerns.

The Sokuluk district court in north Kyrgyzstan's sentenced a man on January 26 to 20 years in prison for severely beating his ex-wife and cutting off her nose and ears. Azamat Estebesov was found guilty of torture, rape, attempted murder, violation of privacy, and inflicting serious bodily harm.

The Kyrgyz Interior Ministry official told RFE/RL on January 26 that the former deputy chief of the Customs Service, Raimbek Matraimov, who in 2020-2021 was at the center of a high-profile corruption scandal, was added to the wanted list of the State Committee for National Security.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson took a strong stand on January 26 against a bipartisan Senate deal to pair border enforcement measures with Ukraine aid, sending a letter to colleagues that aligns him with hard-line conservatives determined to sink the compromise on border and immigration policy.

A Moscow court on January 26 issued an arrest warrant on a charge of distributing "fake" information about Russia's military for self-exiled Russian lawyer Mark Feigin, who has defended noted Russian and Ukrainian activists.

The opposition Serbia Against Violence coalition led a new anti-government protest on January 26 in the country's capital, Belgrade, over disputed national and municipal elections that were held on December 17.

A source in Tajikistan's Supreme Court told RFE/RL on January 26 that former police Colonel Akmal Yusufzoda will face trial on charges of involvement in the kidnapping and murder of a university teacher.