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The Constitutional Tribunal is currently reviewing the powers of the Police and other specialised law enforcement agencies to use various types of investigative methods such as wiretapping or obtaining telecommunication data. The proceedings were instituted upon the motions filed by the Human Rights Defender and the Prosecutor General. For the purposes of the present case the HFHR has analysed the judicial review of requests for applying such methods.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has presented an opinion on the draft law on proceedings against mentally disturbed persons who pose a threat to life, health or sexual liberty of others. The Ministry of Justice’s bill is to authorise detention of violent offenders who already completed their prison term but are considered a threat to life and sexual liberty of other people.

18 years after their death in the Srebenica massacre, 409 newly identified victims were laid. Also on 11 July 2013, Radovan Karadžić’s acquittal for genocide in municipalities of Bosnia and Herzegovina was reversed.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Belarus, Miklós Haraszti, will visit Vilnius the 12-13 July 2013 to hold consultations with representatives of Belarusian civil society on the human rights situation in the country.

The conference will discuss the situation of human rights in Azerbaijan in the context of the Universal Periodic Review, the advocacy activities and the future steps. Maina Kiai, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, will be one of the speakers.

Letters received by the HFHR indicate that SII expert physicians and court experts issue contradictory decisions regarding the health condition of persons applying for accident benefits. This type of payments is awarded for work-related injury or occupational disease.

The Belarusian civic activist Andrei Haidukou was newly convicted of “attempt to establish cooperation with the special service, security service or intelligence service of a foreign state” and sentenced to 1.5 years in prison.

The HFHR sent a letter to Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan firmly opposing the latest announcements made by representatives of the Turkish government. The officials declared that the military may be used to suppress the protests erupting in Turkish cities. They also mentioned declaring martial law.

In the wake of the last week’s World Refugee Day and the Government’s adoption of a draft of the new Foreigners Act, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Association for Legal Intervention would like to point the attention of the public to the detrimental effects of the new law on foreigners staying in guarded centres.

The Foundation presented its proposals to streamline parliamentary public hearing procedure. In practice, the process is rarely used. So far, the 7th Term Sejm of the Republic of Poland has held only four public hearings. “Adopting a resolution to hold a public hearing of a bill is a difficult task in its own right: it requires a majority of votes in a committee which debates on the bill. In consequence, proposals sponsored by the Opposition are unlikely to succeed”, observes Michał Szwast, a lawyer with the HFHR.

1 ліпеня грамадскі актывіст Андрэй Гайдукоў (на фота) быў асуджаны на паўтара года пазбаўлення волі па абвінавачанні ў “замаху на ўстанаўленне супрацоўніцтва са спецыяльнай службай, органам бяспекі ці разведвальным органам замежнай дзяржавы”.

26 June is recognized as International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Despite the fact that there is no term “torture” in the Belarusian legistation, the citizens of the country have to face this problem quite often.