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Freelance journalist Faramaz Novruzoglu has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison in reprisal for his coverage of alleged government corruption.

Першы тыдзень перадвыбарчай агітацыі быў адзначаны скаардынаванай атакай органаў правапарадку на апазіцыйныя суполкі ў сацыяльных сетках. 30 жніўня быў знішчаны кантэнт некаторых з іх, затрыманыя іх адміністратары.

Eka became victim of sexual violence at the age of nine. She is among a huge number of Georgian womens that are sexually abused – and ignored.

In August 2001, the Ugandan army forcefully evicted more than 2000 people from their land in the Mubende district to make way for a vast coffee plantation operated by Kaweri Coffee Plantation Ltd., a subsidiary of the Hamburg-based Neumann Kaffee Gruppe. To this day, the evictees continue to suffer from the loss of their land.

Israeli court has ruled in a civil case that the Israel army was not at fault in the bulldozer death of American pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie nearly 10 years ago. Corrie was 23 years old when she went to the town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip as part of a group of activists of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

Works on the amendment to the Prosecution Service Act are underway. The changes proposed in the draft amendment include the dissolution of the separate military prosecution service and the establishment of a Government’s power to approve annual “fundamental considerations of criminal policy”. According to the HFHR, works on the bill should be abandoned.

On 22 August OSCE/ODIHR observation mission, which will work in Belarus during the parliamentary election campaign, was opened in Minsk. Observers have promised that their work will be transparent and open, but the representatives of the Belarusian CEC are already being pessimistic and critical of the observers.

The HFHR called the Minister of National Defence for explanations regarding the Poland’s military plans to purchase unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs, also known as “drones”) to be used by an independent combat unit. In May this year, Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the MND plans to acquire 41 sets of unmanned aircrafts and two sets of armed drones with similar combat capabilities to those of US Predator UCAVs used in military operations performed in locations such as Pakistan.

Article 19 has recently provided the reviews of the access to information legislation and the civil law regime concerning defamation in Kazakhstan. The organisation’s overall assessment of the Draft Law on Access to Information is positive, though several problems have been identified. The legislation regarding defamation, however, despite some positive elements, fails to provide safeguards for free expression, organisation states.

22 жніўня ў Мінску была афіцыйна прэзентаваная назіральніцкая місія БДIПЧ АБСЕ, якая будзе працаваць у Беларусі падчас парламенцкай кампаніі. Назіральнікі паабяцалі, што іхняя праца будзе празрыстай і адкрытай, аднак прадстаўнікі ЦВК настроены песімістычна і ўжо пачалі крытыкаваць назіральнікаў.

Lately, the government of Georgia and the ruling party – United National Movement [UNM] became targets of strict criticism from two international institutions simultaneously. Co-rapporteurs from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and OSCE PA Pre-Election Mission laid out particular concerns about current situation in Georgia and demanded the government to create equal conditions for all political parties during pre-election campaign.

Various NGOs, including members of the Human Rights House Network, have together reacted against the verdict against the members of the Pussy Riot. We call for Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich of the music band Pussy Riot to be released.