Egor Aleyev / TASS The European Court of Human Rights has criticized Russia’s practice of making controlled purchases of illegal drugs and demanded an explanation from the government In 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) agreed to hear complaints brought by nine Russian citizens convicted of drug-related offenses. Irina Khrunova, a lawyer with the “Agora” international human rights group who specializes in drug crimes, is defending four of the Russians who turned to the ECHR.

Warning: This story and the video below describe and contain graphic violence. The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta has published new evidence in the torture and beheading of a man in Syria, whose gruesome death was first revealed in a two-minute video released on June 30, 2017. At the time, observers speculated that the Russian-speakers pounding the man with a sledgehammer and chopping at his body with knives and shovels were possibly mercenaries from the “Wagner” private military company.