TODAY: Thousands march for ‘political prisoners’; solidarity events held for Khodorkovsky; Vkontakte charges cleared; Medvedev wants Russians to trust courts; women’s rights lagging; Georgia elects Russia-friendly president; mobile companies to warn of emergencies; Roizman profiled; World Cup hosting to go ahead.

Thousands marched in central Moscow yesterday in support of the Bolotnaya Square suspects and other (so-called) political prisoners, but numbers dwindled in comparison with marches earlier this year.  Officials estimates crowds of 5,000; organisers had hoped for 20,000.  RFE/RL has some video footage.  Solidarity events were held in the U.K., U.S., and Estonia to mark the tenth anniversary of the incarceration of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, with supporters gathering to read his prison writings.  Vkontakte has been cleared of piracy charges by a St. Petersburg court.  Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wants Russians to trust legal investigations and court decisions.  Bloomberg reports that Russia is lagging behind on women’s rights and the law: ‘it doesn’t have the basic parameters that women need to be protected from domestic abuse.’  The election in Georgia of Giorgi Margvelashvili as president may help towards decreasing tensions with Russia.