According to Bloomberg, Russia has reopened the investigation into the 1998 murder of lawmaker and human rights activist Galina Starovoitova as new evidence has appeared.  The assassinated activist’s assistant, Ruslan Linkov, who was also injured in the attack which killed her, has suggested that the reopening may be to do with an appeal sent by himself and Starovoitova’s sister to President Medvedev in July.  An independent election-monitoring group has criticized election officials for preventing all but one opposition candidate to stand in next month’s Moscow city Duma elections.  The Other Russia reports that all seven candidates from the Solidarity Opposition Movement have been withdrawn from the race.  A Moscow court has thrown out a $32,000 defamation lawsuit brought by the Nashi youth group against opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, regarding the Sochi ammonia attack.