this is "nightline." >> tonight breaking news. long time senator and one time presidential nominee mccain msnbc diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. the latest on his condition and reaction from the president. plus, a rising tide of anti-gay hate in putin's russia. reports of brutal attacks, vigilanty violence. now in the southern republic of chechnya. citizens forced into hiding. fleeing an alleged government campaign of brutality. the strong man's outcry. and free o.j.? the long awaited decision

tomorrow. o.j. simpson up for parole after nine years behind bars for armed robbery. could he go free? we're with a juror from his original murder trial. what he thinks led to that verdict. first the "nightline" five. ♪ ♪ award winning interface. award winning design. award winning engine.

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good evening. thank you for joining us. we begin with breaking news. former republican presidential nominee and long time senator john mccain of arizona has been diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. his office releasing a statement detailing the diagnosis after the senator had surgery to remove a blood clot above his left eye. his office said the 80-year-old senator will be reviewing treatment options with his family, including a combination of chemotherapy and radiation. the white house releasing a statement saying the president and his wife melania send their thoughts and prayers to senator managing mccain. er president obama joining in support joining a chorus of well wishes. he and running mate sarah palin lost to barack obama. he's been a senator since 1987 where he's long been known as a maverick will to reach across the aisle to get the job done.

he was a u.s. navy captain in vietnam where he was captured, tortured and held in difficult conditions. his daughter megan asking for you our prayers saying cancer may afflict him in many ways but it will not make him surrender. he is a warrior at dusk. we turn to a story causing global outrage out of the russian republic of chechnya. where the gay has been subject to violence and persecution. now human rights groups say the government is behind a series of system attic campaigns of hateful hundreds have been randomly gathered up and tortured and some have been killed. the reporter went to moscow where he met with survivors who say they fled for their lives. >> reporter: moscow, the kremlin, the seat of power in vladimir putin's russia. we are headed to the outskirts

of the city. and keeping a low profile. >> the person we're about to meet is taking a risk. >> reporter: we're on our way to a secret safe house. >> we don't know where we're going. >> reporter: to meet two men who say they've been forced into hiding, their lives in danger because they're gay. this is what is happening in russia. these disturbing images collected by human rights watch. showing men allegedly being choked, beaten, violated, targeted allegedly because of their sexuality. in the past few years, bigotry has been on the rise. and repressive government policies have fueled the hatred. but it is in southern russia, in chechnya, a semi autonomous republic where high school rights groups say vigilanty hate has evolved into something far worse. a coordinated government campaign to round up and

eliminate gay men. a mass persecution. here in that moscow safe house we're about to meet two of the men who say they are survivors. they tell us they're so afraid, even here, they've asked that we obscure their faces and change their voices. >> were you happy? >> translator: because they started rounding up homosexuals. >> when you say they were rounding up and arresting gay people, who is they? >> translator: the authorities. >> this man, he says he is no stranger to discrimination and violence. he said he could date very rarely. >> we would meet in public places so if there's danger, we could run away or ask for help. >> the threat of being black mailed or beaten.

>> translator: we met three times before. he came out to meet me. i gave him my hand to say hi. i saw three men. they dragged me to the apartment. someone was holding me. someone was punching me. i started to resist and i ran downstairs. >> lgbt activists say here in chechnya, islam takes the harshest view of homosexuality. videos this obtained by cnn. he said it was a disturbing story of one friend's arrest that forced him to make a decision. >> he was taken out in hand cuffs. taken away. >> the same day, i took everything i could carry. >> there is another man in this safe house, hiding behind this door. he won't even come into the room. we'll call him dmitri. he said what happened to him was far worse.

he said he was detained for more than a week, then starved and brutally tortured. >> translator: they split my eye, broke my ribs, they electrocuted me. the shock makes you want to jump to the ceiling. i heard all sorts of things. >> accounts like these from gay men in chechnya have only slowly come into view thanks to the newspaper, one of the last independent payments left here. >> honor. >> they broke the story back in april. >> the first, the men were beaten, they were tortured. they were electrocuted. >> she covers chechnya for the paper believes at least 200 men have been rounded up, held and tortured, and that some of those men have even perished. >> so you know of three men specifically who have died, been killed. do you think there are many more? >> yes.

unfortunately yes. >> but an accurate accounting is hard to come by where there is little accountability and even less free press ske a long history of extra judicial killing. >> you say they operated with impunlt. the chechen authorities can get away with murder. >> yes. >> the one time separatist leader, he became a moscow loyalist during the second chechen war that ended in 2007. he has ruled with an iron fist for more than a decade. >> the strategy is to put a strong man in charge of it. that comes as a price. the price is to overlook virtually anything. >> he is a leader filled with bravado and bluster. he regularly stars in his own social media videos. they're glimpse into the personality cult he's built. one based on mass clint, power

and devout muslim service. in an interview with hbo real sports, he flat out denied the very existence of gays in his country. >> do you not get concerned when you read these accounts of young men who say they've been tortured for days? does it concern you as a matter of law and order? >> he even suggested if chechen families took mat enters into their own hands, authorities would look the other way. according to amnesty international, he has stoked prejudice in the traditionalist society to enlist people in

persecution. >> families are expected to kill their own relatives if they have been publicly named gay. it seems the authorities behind this campaign have staged night way that they didn't to have deal with anyone directly. >> since the story broke, there has been international condemnation. >> the united states and other nations should do more to make sure all people are protected. >> it does everything they can to end this appalling persecution. >> he was summoned to moscow and denied there was any purge during the meeting with vladimir putin who ordered an investigation which has since been halted. despite all of this, they both say they were torn between protecting themselves and leaving their families behind. dmitri, who is married and has two children, has not even told his wife where he is. >> she thinks i'm in russia working. just left for work. that i took a job on a construction site somewhere. no one knows where i will.

>> both men now in hiding are being protected by the russian network. even having reached the relative safety of this house in moscow, they feel they're still in purgatory and there's little hope of leaving these borders. just 27 of the 120 people who have sought their made it out of russia. >> do you think you can go back to chechnya now? >> no. i will never go back. >> for both these men, there is no good option. they've lost so much. their families, their homes, their country. >> translator: i want to live as normal people do. work, pay taxes, live as i used to live. i don't want to hide. i did not do any harm to anybody. i did not rape anyone.

>> do you feel you have lost your family? >> translator: i hope that i did not. i understand there's no way back for me. >> what will you do now? >> i don't know. as long as i am here, i have no clue what tomorrow brings me. up next, the parole hearing of the century. o.j. simpson with a chance to go free after nine years behind bars. music playing ] you've wished upon it all year, and now it's finally here. the mercedes-benz summer event is back, with incredible offers on the mercedes-benz you've always longed for. but hurry, these shooting stars fly by fast. lease the c300 for $399 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. the unpredictability of a flaree may weigh on your mind.

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. for decades now, o.j. simpson has stood with race,

class, celebrity and justice. tomorrow he walks back into the spotlight as a parole board in nevada decides whether to set him free. we heard from one person who once held his fate in his hands. a juror in his murder trial. here's my co-anchor. >> for decades, o.j. simpson has stood at the incent krend area nexus. early to walks back into the pot light as a parole board in nevada will decide whether to set him free. he has been here in lovelock prison since 2008 after he was found guilty in a botched robbery attempt to steal back his memorabilia. >> guilty. >> in a sense, we've been here before. >> find defendant not guilty of the crime of murder. >> simpson acquitted after the trial of the century in which he was accused of the double murder of his ex-wife nicole brown simpson and her friend, ron

goldman. >> you had to have been there and lived what we lived to understand. >> now a four-part series, the jury speaks is asking jurors to recast their votes, given what they know now. >> it is not what we want. it is what the law is. >> lon was juror 2 three during the people versus own simpson. >> if you had to cast a vote about his guilt or innocence, how would you vote? >> i'm probably pretty sure that he probably is the person went over there and killed them. >> are you there other things have change your view? >> he had decided to come out and do this fictitious book if i did it. it became apparent to me in my mind that i was probably the person that went over there and killed those people. >> but he said he ultimately stands by that not guilty verdict. >> wasn't based on whether or not i really thought he did it

or didn't do it. it was based on the presumption that was prenlth to me by the judge in the trial, reasonable doubt. >> cryo is perhaps best known for this moment, the people versus o.j. simpson. >> i put my hand up like this. of course, it was only to say to mr. simpson. it was to him to say, hey, man, enjoy your life. go back and be a real person again. >> looking back, do you think race played a role in the verdict? >> i don't think so. i think a lot of us thought some of us were pre disposed to decisions beforehand. i personally wasn't and i feel none of the other juryists were. >> i'm not sure that race had any impact on the verdict. i think the stress on the jury had much more impact. >> nancy glass is the series executive producer. >> why do you think we're still talking about this case so many years after the fact?

>> i think it is because it is an unsolved mystery. it involves money she becelebri murder, sex. >> it quickly became must-see tv. >> as the trial progressed, what were the moments impacted your decision? >> the infamous glove experiment which i feel back fired on the prosecution. >> so when you saw the way he put glove on, that screamed to you as a piece of evidence that maybe he didn't do it. >> it screamed to me that obviously those gloves don't fit him. maybe he wasn't the perpetrator of the crime. >> if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. >> wasn't he wearing rubber gloves underneath? >> yes. >> wouldn't that have changed the way the glove fit? >> i would have thought so. but the prosecution allowed that to happen.

>> that experiment something the lead prosecutor in the trial, mass i can't clark, tried to stop. >> i didn't want to do it. i knew it was a miss taeflt i said the latex would screw up the fit. >> there were times where it really did feel like you were in jail. it wasn't fun at all. >> after 253 days of trial and hearing testimony, from 156 witnesses, the case was finally given over to the jury to deliberate. >> the fact i might release a person who was guilty, it bothered me. but the doubt was so plain. you couldn't deny it. there was no other verdict we could deliver. >> i had been sequestered all that time of i couldn't control anything. at this point in the deliberation, we the jury have control of how much longer we'll be here. >> after fewer than four hours of deliberation, the jury

reached a verdict. >> not guilty of the crime of murder. >> he said his first days of freedom were meyer in the fearful. >> i had people camped out at 90 home in los angeles. people would show up at my house and leave threatening remarks. >> for simpson, life after the not guilty verdict was also not as he imagined. in 2008 after a baffling attempt to steal back his medicmorabili he was found guilty and sentenced to the 9 to 33-year term in prison. >> in nevada, to decide to take back your memorabilia. i thought whole concept was pretty stupid. >> tomorrow after his parole hearing, simpson could be a free man again. as for lon, his name will forever be linked with o.j.

simpson. for "nightline." >> we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ more kinds of crab than ever, new dishes, and all your favorites. only while crabfest lasts. red lobster. now this is seafood. only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol®

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we leave with you the outpouring of support for senator mccain after his brain tumor diagnosis. joe biden who lost his own son beau to bone cancer tweeted, john and i have been friends for 40 years. he's gotten through so much difficulty with so much grace. he is strong and he will beat this. turn to abc news.com and our facebook page for more. thanks for watching abc news. good night, america. >> welcome to hometown heroes week where each day we're saluting folks from all walks of life who have done something truly special. we've invited them here for a chance to do something that would also be pretty special--win $1 million. so let's play "who wants to be a millionaire." [cheers and applause] [dramatic music] ♪ hey, everybody, welcome. it's hometown heroes week on "who wants to be a millionaire."

[cheers and applause] our first contestant's blog humans of new york has crowdfunded $10 million for charity, and that's just last year alone. his photography, his interviews take the internet by storm and inspire thousands every day. from new york, new york, please welcome brandon stanton. [cheers and applause] very good to meet you. [dramatic music] ♪ so in a nutshell, tell us what you do. and how did this start? what were--where did this come from? >> so humans of new york is basically a blog that i run that's based around the idea of stopping random strangers on the streets of new york city and doing about a 30- or 45-minute interview with them about their lives. and it started after i lost my job about six years ago. i was working in finance, and i just wanted to do something because i enjoyed it, and so i moved to new york with the idea that i was gonna do this massive photo project