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Since 4 December 2012 courts in Kazakhstan have banned news website Stan.tv, the opposition television channel K-Plus and two newspapers Golos Respubliki and Vzglyad, their affiliated newspapers and online content. In November this year an Almaty court ordered the unregistered opposition group Alga! to suspend its activities immediately.

Representatives of a number of human rights organizations in Belarus on December 10 traditionally determined the best among human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers. Liubou Kavaliova (right), the mother of the executed for Minsk metro bombing was chosen as a Human rights defender of 2012.

10 снежня 2012 у Міжнародны Дзень правоў чалавека Цэнтр прававой трансфармацыі і Лятучы універсітэт абвесцілі штогадовы конкурс эсэ па правах чалавека. Конкурс накіраваны на заахвочванне самастойных даследаванняў па пытаннях забеспячэння і абароны правоў чалавека ў Беларусі.

On 4 December the court decided to send political prisoner Mikalai Dziadok (right) to the closed-type prison. The reason for that was his recognition as a “malicious violator of the imprisonment regime” in the prison, where he served his sentence.

The Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw admitted the complaint of a homosexual Ugandan national who challenged the decision denying him a refugee status and other forms of legal protection. The HFHR joined in the proceedings as a community organisation. If no cassation complaint is filed, the foreigner won’t be expelled from Poland and the Council for Foreigners will reconsider the foreigner’s application with the court’s directions.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee issued a decision on Mr Kovalev’s case. In March this year, Vladislav Kovalev was executed for his alleged complicity in carrying out a bomb attack on the Minsk metro in April 2011. The Human Rights Committee found violations of the human rights treaty obligations of Belarus laid down in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Optional Protocol to the Covenant.

Прадстаўнікі шэрагу праваабарончых арганізацыяў Беларусі 10 снежня традыцыйна вызначалі найлепшых сярод праваабаронцаў, журналістаў і адвакатаў. Праваабаронцай года 2012 абраная Любоў Кавалёва (на фота), маці расстралянага за тэракт у мінскім метро.

On Monday, December 10, the South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders held a press-conference with regard to International Human Rights Day and presented report on the situation of human rights defenders in Georgia. The report is published as part of a joint report of South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders, which covers situation of human rights defenders in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Internet blog Towleroad has recently published an interview with Ugandan gay activist Frank Mugisha about the on-going debate on the “kill the gays” bill.

The PEN delegation visited Turkey from 12 – 18 November. PEN International and PEN branches from the USA, Sweden, England, Turkey and Norway participated. Meeting with President Abdullah Gül in Ankara on 13 November, the delegation asked that Turkey took concrete action to stop the alarming increase in the number of writers, journalists, translators and publishers who are detained or prosecuted in the country.

On 6 December Kazbek Gekkiyev, a journalist on the local TV station, was murdered in the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria on his way home. His death coincided with the launch of the Speak Justice Campaign. Its aim is to break the terrible cycle of murder and impunity currently experienced by journalists around the world.

English PEN encourages its members and supporters to send seasonal greetings to imprisoned writers and their families.