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Minsk: Human Rights Center Viasna expresses its decisive protest against the criminal case against the oppositional activists Paviel Sieviaryniets and Mikalai Statkievich. According to the court verdict, both politicians were sentenced to three years of jail on 31 May. (3-JUNE-05)
 

Minsk: Human Rights Center Viasna expresses its decisive protest against the criminal case against the oppositional activists Paviel Sieviaryniets and Mikalai Statkievich. According to the court verdict, both politicians were sentenced to three years of jail on 31 May. (3-JUNE-05)
 
 

Mikhail Khodorcovsky, former head of the Yukos oil firm, and his business partner Platon Lebedev were found guilty and sentenced to nine years in prison. The case against Mr. Khodorkovsky was founded on charges including theft of someone else´s property by fraud, causing property damage by fraud, tax evasion and insurance theft involving large amounts of money, embezzlement and forgery of official documents. (2-JUNE-05)
 

In August 2003, Craig Murray, Britain’s former ambassador to Republic of Uzbekistan, was confronted with a series of disciplinary charges by the Foreign Office, which he was not permitted to discuss with anyone, and instructed to resign. He refused. The allegations were dropped within a few weeks but not before Murray had had a breakdown and a pulmonary embolism that nearly killed him. He was finally removed from his post in October 2004. (24-MAY-05)

According to the investigators, the interview given by Hary Pahaniayla to the Swedish television last year contained a libelous statement. In February the criminal charges against Hary Pahaniayla were dropped, the corresponding ruling said that the actions of the human rights activist did not constitute a crime though were libelous with respect to Lukashenka. (30-MAY-2005)

Under the pressure from the ideology department of Minsk City Executive Committee, the managers of the Republic of Belarus Hotel, where a contact Belarus-Sweden conference was due to take place on 20-22 May, refused a rental agreement. And at the last minute the Belarusian Embassy to Sweden refused visas to the Swedish participants of the contact conference, said the press service of the NGO Assembly. (30-MAY-2005)

-We urge you to raise the question as to whether the Government of Republic of Azerbaijan is sincerely committed to its effort to fulfil its obligations in the Council of Europe, reads the letter to the Norwegian delegation to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) sent by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights House Foundation and Norwegian PEN. (30-May-05)
 

Week by week, the threat of the Darfur crisis to spill over, not only into other parts of Republic of the Sudan, but also into other, neighbouring countries, is growing. The UN has long since left any doubt behind regarding Khartoum?s backing of the Janjaweed militia. This week, undeniable photo evidence to that effect was released. Below, read the story of one of more than two million victims of this conflict. (31-MAY-05)
     

On the meeting of Executive Committee of the International Helsinki Federation (IHF), which brings together human rights groups from over 40 countries, held in Belgrade, on a May 30, 2005, Serbian authorities were called to acknowledge the responsibility of Serb forces (1) in the genocide in Srebrenica  (30-MAY-05)