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When one of China’s Internet users logs on to Google, everything appears normal. But websites without the government’s blessing – including the BBC, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Amnesty International – will not be found. And Chinese citizens won’t know the difference. While other states that censor the Internet do so blatantly, the Chinese operate in a more clandestine manner. Wendy Ginsberg reports for Index on Censorship (08-JULY-05)
 

On the night of June 27th several hundred prisoners from Lgov’s prison camp # 3 in the Kursk Region cut their arms and abdominals in protest against the arbitrariness of the prison administration. The day before, four prisoners were beaten by prison guards. The prisoners said that cutting themselves was the only way to bring attention to the abusive behaviour of the prison guards. (8-JULY-05)
 

On July 6th, representatives of “Peace Boat”, a floating university for peace,  paid The Rafto Human Rights House a visit. “Peace Boat” is a Japanese organisation, but the crew changes from voyage to voyage, and represents different nations each time. People from Japan, Germany, Ireland, Palestine and Israel were among the 30 visitors to the Rafto House. They were interested in learning how the Rafto House Foundation works to spread knowledge about human rights. (07-JULY-2005)

Mr. Arne L. Lynngaard, leader of the Rafto Foundation was deported from Western Sahara last night. Together with four other Norwegians, he was escorted by Moroccan police  to Agadir. The Norwegian delegation is urging Norwegian authorities to respond to the deportation, and to the arrest of Saharawi human-rights activist. (6-JULY-2005)

Yesterday, close to the Memorial centre in Potocari – Srebrenica, police of Republika Srpska found 35 kg of explosive.
Well known BH photographer Tarik Samarah announces his new project about Srebrenica under the title: “To see, to know, to remember”, which create tensions in Serbia. (06-JULY-05)

On Thursday, June 30, the Sejm adopted amendments to the Acts on Advocature (the Bar), Legal Advisers and Public Notaries. After over two years of political tactics within the Sejm, it was finally possible to introduce greater access to legal professions. (04-JULY-05)

On 22 June representatives of oppositional political parties gathered in Freedom Square in Vitsiebsk to protest against the verdict to two leaders of the Belarusian opposition Paviel Sieviaryniets and Mikola Statkievich. 40 minutes after it started the action participants were dispersed by the police and riot squad.

Four months have passed since the killing of the controversial editor-in-chief of opposition-minded Monitor journal. Prominent Azeri journalist Elmar Huseynov was gunned down at the entrance of his apartment on March 2. Monitor was a Russian language weekly magazine covering the activity of prominent politicians in the country. The journal published investigative pieces exposing official corruption, mismanagement and crime in different fields of economics and politics. (2-JUL-2005)
 

Tenth in a row „ School of Human Rights for Youth“, organized by the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, was completed this week in Bozava, Dugi otok. Altogether 19 high school students, coming from different regions in Republic of Croatia , took an active part in the one-week school programme, designed to provide basic information on human rights. (31-JUN-05)
 

A gathering of experts and international NGOs in Amsterdam has concluded with a joint  declaration on the main issues facing countries seeking to regulate online activity– including enforced regulation and filtering. Index on Censorship reports. (28-JUN-05)

On the 3rd of June 2005, at around 15:00, military personnel from OMON led an unauthorized operation to detain suspects who helped militants in the Chechen Region of stanitsa Borozdinovskaya. They blew up the houses of local inhabitants, made the men sit in cars and took them to the local school. The Soldiers made people lay face down on the ground and pulled their shirts over their heads. Military personnel beat everybody, even teenagers, elderly people and handicapped, on their feet and with the butt of their guns. Soldiers kept people in the rain till late evening. At 21:00 Military personnel took eleven people, who have still not been found. (30-JUNE-05)
 

The registration and licensing department of Minsk City Executive Committee refused to register the changes made to the registration documents of the Dzienpres company that publishes the newspaper Den. The changes concern the new legal address that has been provided by the House of Republic of Poland in Minsk.