Latest

On 1 November Belarusian Association of Journalists addressed Information Minister Uladzimir Rusakevich with an open letter, requesting to cancel the order about suspension of the “Mestnaya Gazeta” newspaper. By that day the editor-in-chief of this independent newspaper had been on hunger strike for already 13 days. (4-NOV-2004)

62 filled referendum ballots were found in a garbage can in the city of Barysaw. The activist of the United Civil Party, former candidate to deputies in Barysaw village circuit Viktar Harbachow says that a member of his initiative group found them in the garbage can near secondary school #24 of Barysaw, where polling station #42 was situated. (4-NOV-2004)

On 28 September KGB decided to leave Mikhail Marynich in custody for 30 more days “for the interests of investigation. This will be the sixths month of jail for the ex-minister, who has been kept there since 26 April. (4-NOV-2004)

Murdered filmaker Theo van Gogh was both an outspoken proponent and exponent of free expression who consciously courted controversy. Index on Censorship reports (04-NOV-04)
 

The Rafto Foundation together with Amnesty International has made a post card of appeal which can be sent to the Chinese government. The post card was introduced on Monday the 25th of October when Monica Mæland (Chief Comissioner of the City Government in Bergen) and Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen (the leader of the opposition in Bergen) signed a post card each.Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen said that it was an honour to sign the post card and by this act contributing to the campaign to free Rebiya Kadeer. Both politicians agreed that this was a political case they easily supported. (04-NOV-2004)

The “North Korean Holocaust Exhibition” will be held from November 8th through November 10, 2004, at the National Assembly Members Building in Yeoido, Seoul, Korea. This will be a powerfully dramatic depiction of the suffering of the North Korean people!  The exhibition will include hundreds of photos, letters, diaries, models, and artifacts by and from the refugees and NK people, which Mr. Moon from Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human rights and others risked their lives to collect over the past ten years.  (01-NOV-2004)

The Rafto Prize Ceremony 2004, honouring this years laureate, Rebiya Kadeer , will be held on 7 Nov. at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen. Kadeers husband, Sidik Haji Rouzi, will receive the prize on behalf of his wife. Rouzi fled the People´s Republic of China in 1996 and was granted asylum in the USA. Distinguished Norwegian and international artists will participate at the Rafto Award Ceremony. The Rafto Symposium 2004 is named “Human Rights and Minorities in China: The Case of Xinjiang” and will be held on 5 Nov. at Clarion Hotel Admiral, Bergen. (01-NOV-2004)

In a letter to the president Mr. Ilham Aliyev the 29th of October the Human Rights House Foundation  and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) expressed serious concern about the Court of Grave Crime´s decisions. (29-OCT-04).
 

In January 2004 the re-newed Department of Information- and Media Sciences was established at the University of Bergen. “In accordance with our scientific goals we want to create an agenda for public debate on the conditions for freedom of expression, and the challenges it is facing. This has now come about through an inspiring cooperation with the Rafto Foundation, the Institution Fritt Ord and Bergens Tidende,” says Professor Knut Helland. (30-OCT-2004)