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From Kurdish human rights defenders, www.humanrightshouse.org has been alerted to video footage of the very violent conduct of the Turkish army and police during the recent Newroz celebrations. To view the Youtube placed coverage, click here. Newroz, the Turkish New Year, is celebrated on the spring equinox, 21 March. (02-APR-08)
 

For some time now, the Court in Strasbourg has been re-broadcasting hearings held before the Grand Chamber, which could later be watched in the Internet. These are usually very interesting cases that deal with issues controversial from the perspective of human rights. For the first time, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights organized a session of shared watching of a trial held before the ECHR.(29-MAR-08)

The Human Rights House Foundation has sent a letter to the  Prosecutor of Vitebsk Region and asked to dismiss the accusations brought against the human rights defender Paval Levinau from Vitebsk. In the letter HRH F asked the Belarusian authorities to stop the violation of freedom of expression and association, and the right to be a human rights defender. (28-MAR-08)   
                     

In the new issue of Norwegian Refugee Council´s Thematic Reports, the focus is on the conflict in Western Sahara, Africa´s last colony. While the Sahrawis, the original population of the country, suffer oppression and displacement, the international community has chosen to look the other way. (28-MAR-08)
 

The Human Rights House Foundation, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the Rafto Foundation, Norwegian PEN, and the Norwegian Union of Journalist condemn the arrests and brutal attacks by riot police of peaceful demonstrators in Minsk. In the protest letter sent to Belarusian authorities the organisations condemn the arrests of journalists covering the event, and the ongoing harassment of independent media.  (27-MAR-08) 
 

The “Nasha Niva” correspondent Siamion Piechanko is sentenced to 15 Days of Jail. The photographer Andrei Lankievich will be tried on March 27. Both were detained while they covered the demonstration in the centre of Minsk on March 25. Both journalists are accused of violating the order of arrangement and holding mass events (26-MARCH-08).
 

The “Nasha Niva” correspondent Siamion Piechanko is sentenced to 15 Days of Jail. The photographer Andrei Lankievich will be tried on March 27. Both were detained while they covered the demonstration in the centre of Minsk on March 25. Both journalists are accused of violating the order of arrangement and holding mass events (26-MARCH-08).
 

Mass arrests and beatings were the results of the peaceful commemoration of the Belarusian National Republic´s 90th anniversary. According to belarusian human rights defenders, about five thousand people took part. More than 100 were detained. Among the injured detainees is Andrei Lyankevich, a photographer who works for the independent Belarusian newspaper Nasha Niva. (26-MAR-08)
 

Media Rights Institute has prepared a draft law proposal “On Protection of Confidentiality of Journalist Sources.” According to the draft law, journalists cannot be forced to reveal their correspondence, notes taken beforehand and the documents. (25-MAR-2008)
    

On 12 March 2008 the U.S. State Department unveiled its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The section devoted to Republic of Azerbaijan is quite sizeable, and includes extensive documentation of press freedom violations that occurred in 2007, as well progress on the investigations into events even prior to 2007, like the 2005 murder of “Monitor” Journal Chief Editor Elmar Huseynov. (20-MAR-08)
    

On 13 March “Azadlig” Newspaper journalist Agil Khalil was attacked by 4 unknown people as he was leaving the office of “Azadlig newspaper”and stabbed in the chest, near his heart by knife. It was the second assault on Khalil in a month, which brought him to hospital. (15-MAR-08)
   

On the 7-th of March the editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper “Azadliq” – Ganimat Zahidov was sentenced to four-year imprisonment. Zahidov was convicted for “deliberately causing light injuries” and “hooliganism” in a trial in which the court did not allow key defense witnesses to testify. The charges were brought against him after a street skirmish on 7 November 2007. (10-MAR-08)