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Amnesty International Norway and the Union of Education share a common ambition to spread knowledge about human rights. The two organisations signed a unique agreement of cooperation in Oslo on 24 August 2010.

In an encouraging ruling last week, the Basmanny District Court in Moscow ordered that two suspects in the January 2009 double murder of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anastasiya Baburova and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov be kept in custody pending trial.

The government of Republic of Belarus is silencing voices for the proper investigation of political disappearances. Amid growing demands to address the issue, officials ban public events and arrest activists. Having been missing for more than 10 years, some political opponents of President Aliaksandr Lukashenka are still stirring up public activism in this country.

A British Sikh has been asked to take off his turban while going through security at the Warsaw Airport. According to his religion it is an insult to be made to take off the head covering. Therefore, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights filed a letter to the Boarder Guard Office claiming that the demand to remove turban during safety check should be considered an act of discrimination against one’s religious beliefs.

Junta-ruled Burma has suspended visas on arrival for tourists from September ahead of its first elections in two decades, officials said on 23 August 2010, potentially restricting access to the country for foreign observers. Meanwhile Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy announced on 20 August an official boycott of the election.

According to the new amendment to the Polish Penal Code which came into force in June 2010, the production of items containing symbols of fascist and other totalitarian regimes with the intent to distribute them is prohibited. The project of the amendment started the countrywide discussion concerning the limits of the freedom of speech and expression.

Chinese authorities have recaptured an 84-year-old ethnic Uyghur farmer after he escaped from detention in Beijing, where he went to protest the loss of his farmland, his son said. It was his 11th trip to protest in Beijing.

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) is deeply concerned with continued reports of violence and ill-treatment during government operations in southern Kyrgyz Republic. According to NHC, some government structures are still mistreating local inhabitants under the guise of weapons searches and ongoing operations following the deeply tragic June events.

Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, two video bloggers from Republic of Azerbaijan were taken into police custody on 8 July, 2009 on “hooliganism”. On 19 August this year, the Azerbaijani Supreme Court upheld the lower courts’ rulings, which convicted Milli and Hajizade of hooliganism and sentenced them to two and a half years and two years of imprisonment respectively. Article 19 believes that the two were targeted for expressing opinions critical of the Azerbaijani authorities.