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Belarus can still hear the echoes of Minsk “mass riots” case which happened after the presidential elections on 19 December 2010. The political prisoners are beginning to be released in small groups, but the lawyers who worked with the accused ones continue to be disbarred.

У Беларусі яшчэ чуваць адгалоскі справы “аб масавых беспарадках” пасля прэзідэнцкіх выбараў 19 снежня 2010 года ў Мінску. Палітзняволеных пачалі выпускаць невялікімі групамі, але адвакатаў, якія працавалі з абвінавачанымі, працягваюць пазбаўляць ліцэнзій.

While Index supports whistleblower initiatives such as Wikileaks, it expresses concern over the need for careful redaction of documents in order to protect dissidents living under authoritarian regimes like Belarus. Publicity and criticism bring results as the Royal Bank of Scotland has announced that it will no longer engage in “any type of capital-raising” on behalf of the government of Belarus after an Index and Free Belarus Now campaign.

The Human Rights House in Oslo together with dozens of other HR organizations has publicly condemned recent demolition of the Institute for Peace and Democracy in Baku. Earlier, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee sent a letter to Azerbaijani authorites including the President Ilham Aliyev, and demanded to investigate and bring persons responsible for demolition to justice.

In mid-August a train derailed near Piotrków Trybunalski, central Poland. One person died and more than eighty others were injured in the crash. By order of the District Court in Piotrków Trybunalski, the train driver who had been in charge of the locomotive was remanded in custody pending trial.The counsel for the defendant appealed against the court’s decision. The HFHR filed an amicus curiae brief with the court which heard the appeal.

The infrastructure development projects have been launched in Gonio, Svaneti, Anaklia and the surrounding areas of Black Sea since the Georgian government announced the mentioned areas as tourism zones. Actually, tourism development creates the perspective for country’s economic development, but in Georgia, it was proceeded with violations of property rights. In 2010, in Gonio, 271 people were deprived from their property. In Mestia (Zemo Svaneti region), the process of land expropriation or refusal of the registration is still going on whilst the process has been completed in Anaklia.

52 human rights organisations from 14 countries sent a joint letter of concern to the Azerbaijani authorities today, condemning the demolishing of the property of the human rights defender Leyla Yunus, which was a home for three human rights organizations in the centre of Baku.

On 29 August 2011 the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights sent a letter to the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers raising the issue of the Polish authorities’ failure to properly implement the ECHR judgement in the case of Wasilewska and Kałucka v. Poland. The case of Wasilewska and Kałucka v. Poland concerns the violation of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

52 human rights organisations from 14 countries sent a joint letter of concern to the Azerbaijani authorities today, condemning the demolishing of the property of the human rights defender Leyla Yunus, which was a home for three human rights organizations in the centre of Baku.

East Africa still struggles with old problems. Legal guaranties provided by constitutions of East African countries should protect freedom of expression in the region, however it is not always so. Even new laws sometimes threaten free speech as it happened in Sudan. Article 19 and Index on Censorship analyze freedom of expression and human rights situation in Uganda, Tanzania and Sudan.

The Central Prison Service Authority reports that the average population of penal institutions and remand centres in Poland stands at 97.8 per cent of the institutions’ capacity. Yet, the detailed statistical data from mid-July 2011 indicate that in many places the occupancy level exceeds 100 per cent, reaching the alarming 129 per cent in some establishments.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights asked the Prosecutor General to reveal whether the Polish prosecution service provided the Belarusian authorities with information on other Belarusian oppositionists. Early August this year it came to light that Polish Prosecution Service provided the Belarusian law enforcement with information regarding Ales Belyatsky.