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Another death sentence passed in Belarus
26-year-old Homel resident Aliaksandr Hrunou has been repeatedly sentenced to death. According to the lawyer, the young man does not believe that he can be pardoned by the President, and therefore he is not sure whether he will apply for clemency.
CAB silent on the remote control of computers and phones
Responding to the Helsinki Foundation’s query about whether or not the Central Anti-corruption Bureau uses the Remote Control System software, the Bureau said that the HFHR’s question should be deemed a request for information on the applicable law and as such remains outside the scope of the Access to Public Information Act. The Foundation asked the same question of the Internal Security Agency. On 27 March 2014 the ISA responded that it did not use the Remote Control System software.
ECJ to strike down Data Retention Directive
The European Court of Justice declared the Data Retention Directive to be invalid in the judgment issued on 8 April 2014 in Joined Cases C-293/12 and C-594/12. According to the Directive telecommunications services providers were obliged to retain data of phone calls made by citizens of the European Union, including traffic and location data. The enactment also allowed courts, law enforcement authorities and secret services to access such data.
У Беларусі вынесены чарговы смяротны прысуд
26-гадовы гамяльчук Аляксандр Груноў паўторна асуджаны на смяротнае пакаранне. Па словах адваката, малады чалавек не верыць у тое, што яго можа памілаваць прэзідэнт, а таму пакуль невядома, ці будзе ён наогул падаваць прашэнне аб памілаванні.
Punitive psychiatry – a form of pressure on Belarusian activists
Punitive psychiatry is increasingly used in Belarus to stop dissent. On March 27, Andrei Kasheuski, a resident of Zhodzina, was released from the National Centre for Mental Health in Minsk, after spending there a month over a yellow-blue ribbon he brought from the Ukrainian Maidan.
Weekly digest – Secret services hearing before Constitutional Tribunal adjourned sine die
After a three-day hearing the Constitutional Tribunal adjourned sine die the ruling on a case involving control over secret services. The case has been brought on the initiative of the Human Rights Defender and Prosecutor General. The applicants argue a constitutional violation caused by the absence of a clearly defined set of technical measures which may be used as covert investigative methods.
Карная псіхіятрыя – спосаб ціску на беларускіх актывістаў
Карная псіхіятрыя ўсё часцей выкарыстоўваецца ў Беларусі для спынення іншадумства. 27 сакавіка з псіхіятрычнага шпіталя быў выпісаны жыхар горада Жодзіна Андрэй Кашэўскі, які правёў там роўна месяц за жоўта-блакітную стужку, прывезеную з ўкраінскага Майдану.
PAC dismisses first complaint against refusal to disclose PRISM information
The Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw dismissed the complaint of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights against the Central Anti-corruption Bureau’s decision refusing disclosure of information on surveillance and PRISM programme.
Another expulsion without court
The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has yet another time informed the Ministry of the Interior about the practice of expelling foreigners before the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw can hear their appeal against a decision declining them refugee status.