A court in Azerbaijan has handed down sentences to nine staff members of Toplum TV, an independent outlet known for its investigations into corruption and coverage of social issues in the country. The harshest penalties were imposed on the project's co-founders, Akif Gurbanov and Ruslan Izzetli, who were each sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Over the past several weeks, a series of high-profile incidents across Russia has reignited debate over xenophobia, religious intolerance and the authorities’ response to alleged hate-motivated incidents.

Azerbaijan’s parliament, the Milli Majlis, has strongly rejected an amendment adopted by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee calling for the release of Armenian prisoners, describing it as containing “unfounded accusations” against Azerbaijan and representing “another attempt to use the United States Congress as a tool of political pressure against Azerbaijan in the interests of the Armenian lobby.”

The Russian authorities are putting in place legal and security mechanisms that could be used in the event of a new military mobilisation, according to analysts at the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), who reviewed recent legislative initiatives and statements by Russian officials.

Mansur Soltaev, the Commissioner for Human Rights in Chechnya, has urged the republic's residents to exercise caution on social media and refrain from sharing materials of a terrorist or extremist nature. He noted that even reposting content without adding one's own commentary could lead to legal consequences.

The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs supported the call for Azerbaijan to immediately release Armenian prisoners of war and other detainees. According to Armenpress, citing the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), 44 committee members supported the initiative, with seven voting against.

Georgia's third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, criticized Transparency International Georgia after the organization failed to include him on its list of political prisoners. TI's updated report states that there are currently 91 political prisoners in the country, but the former president's name is not among them.

The Supreme Court of Russia’s North Ossetia republic has rejected an appeal filed by the defense of 27-year-old Vladikavkaz resident Zarina Tomaeva, leaving her in pretrial detention. Her lawyers had sought to have the preventive measure changed to house arrest, citing her deteriorating health.

Rustam Khuazhev, a member of the presidium of the German-based League of Free Nations, stated that the international conference held in Shusha, Azerbaijan, marked the starting point of a new phase in the campaign for recognition of the "genocide of the Circassian people" during the Russo-Caucasian War.