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On 10 October, the World Day against the Death Penalty, numerous events, happenings and pickets were staged across Republic of Belarus. In solidarity with Republic of Belarus similar events were organised in neighbouring countries. HR defenders from Republic of Belarus, the last country in Europe where the death penalty is still a grim reality, demonstrated that the struggle against this punishment could be multifaceted.

10 кастрычніка, у міжнародны дзень супраць смяротнага пакарання, па ўсёй Беларусі праходзілі пікеты і акцыі. Акцыі ў падтрымку прайшлі і ў суседніх дзяржавах. Правабаронцы Беларусі – апошняй краіны Еўропы, дзе смяротная кара – усё яшчэ рэальнасць, на справе паказалі, што змагацца з варварскімі мерамі пакарання можна рознымі шляхамі.

Article 19 welcomes the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s (PACE) recent adoption of a resolution and set of recommendations on the functioning of democratic institutions in Ukraine. Article 19 urges the Ukrainian government to address PACE’s concerns without delay, specifically in relation to the right to freedom of expression.

Awarding the Nobel peace Prize to the brave Chinese human rights defender Liu Xiaobo will strengthen focus on human rights in the People´s Republic of China. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) hopes that the Nobel Peace prize to Liu Xiaobo will contribute to improving the situation for him and other human rights defenders in the People´s Republic of China. Liu is well known as an unwavering and unorthodox fighter for fundamental human rights in the People´s Republic of China.

It is four years since the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead as she was entering the lift to her apartment in Moscow. Since then, more journalists and human rights defenders have been killed in the Russian Federation. Others have faced threats. No media outlet has lost more staff members than Novaya Gazeta – Politkovskaya’s employer. Neither the murderers nor any possible assassins’ paymasters have been convicted.

The issue of security regime as set for the so called „dangerous prisoners” (hereinafter the „N” regime), has recently been one of the most controversial issues in Poland’s penitentiary practice. The most concerning are the procedure of classifying prisoners as „N” prisoners and the protracted detention in the „N” units, which is often extended without duly justified reasons.

Burmese exiled media groups are calling for international support in ending cyber attacks that have crippled two news websites over the past week. The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and The Irrawaddy magazine, which provide independent coverage of current affairs in Burma (Republic of the Union of Myanmar), have been the target of intense attacks which it is believed originate from the Burmese government.

Elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina appear to have perpetuated the country’s persistent ethnic divisions. With the votes counted, results show that in the contest for the tripartite presidency, Muslim and Croatian voters have chosen moderates who favor cooperation, but in the Serbian entity, the winning candidate stands for separatism.

Republic of Kazakhstan is one of the few member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) without an access to information law. As a result, public governance remains non-transparent. Free speech organisation Article 19 released its analysis of the draft Law on Access to Public Information which has been created by a group of Kazakhstani MPs and legal experts.