Latest

Currently, there are about 600,000 stateless persons in Europe, including many migrants that remain in a legal vacuum. A lack of proper domestic mechanisms that would allow stateless persons to regulate their status puts them at risk of falling victims to human rights violations.

The HFHR has issued a statement on the cancellation of the “Golgotha Picnic” performance at Malta Festival Poznań and in other cities. It has been noted that artistic activity is an integral part of the freedom of expression, which also encompasses statements and works that may offend, shock or alarm some people.

Although in most cases the rights of detained persons are respected, there is still a considerable risk of a detained person being beaten by the Police or otherwise exposed to inhumane or humiliating treatment, says a report on the situation in Polish penitentiary facilities published by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

More than 30,000 refugees from Syria, currently staying in such countries as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, need immediate help. Despite the unfolding humanitarian crisis, the Member States of the European Union, including Poland, are failing to adequately respond to the situation.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights wishes to express its deep concern over the media reports on the actions performed by the Internal Security Agency on 18 June 2014 at the offices of the Wprost weekly magazine.

District Court for the Warsaw’s Mokotów borough held the first hearing in the case of W.W., a convicted felon with a spine condition, who has repeatedly been transferred between the prisons where he was staying and the criminal courts. As a result of the transfers, his health has deteriorated. W.W. brought legal action against the State Treasury, represented by the Chief Commissioner of the Police and Director General of the Prison Service.

Marcin K. has filed a lawsuit against Zbigniew R., the Kołobrzeg-Koszalin Diocese and St. Adalbert Roman Catholic Parish. He requests an apology in the national edition of the Gazeta Wyborcza daily newspaper and Newsweek magazine, and PLN 200,000 as compensation for moral damages caused by a priest’s sexual abuse. The first hearing in the case of Marcin K. was held in the Regional Court in Koszalin.

Under the current rules of procedure applicable in petty offence cases, a person accused of committing a petty offence has no ability to seek advice from counsel at the preliminary stage of the proceedings. The provisions in question also fails to grant the accused access to case files. Last week, the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling declared these laws unconstitutional.

The Court of Appeal in Warsaw has revoked an interim injunction order issued against a journalist of a local newspaper. The injunction imposed on the journalist a year-long ban on covering a certain subject.