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“The status of court experts, and in particular the rules governing the review of their skills and competences, should be set out in statute”, concludes the report “Court Experts in Poland” launched during a press conference held in the headquarters of the Polish Business Roundtable.

The Appellate Prosecutor’s Office in Cracow has refused to officially recognise Mustafa al-Hawsawi as a victim in the probe into the operations of a secret CIA facility in Poland. Mr al-Hawsawi is reported to have been detained and tortured on Polish soil. His attorney, advocate Bogumił Zygmont, said he would appeal against the prosecutor office’s decision.

Responding to the Helsinki Foundation’s query about whether or not the Central Anti-corruption Bureau uses the Remote Control System software, the Bureau said that the HFHR’s question should be deemed a request for information on the applicable law and as such remains outside the scope of the Access to Public Information Act. The Foundation asked the same question of the Internal Security Agency. On 27 March 2014 the ISA responded that it did not use the Remote Control System software.

The European Court of Justice declared the Data Retention Directive to be invalid in the judgment issued on 8 April 2014 in Joined Cases C-293/12 and C-594/12. According to the Directive telecommunications services providers were obliged to retain data of phone calls made by citizens of the European Union, including traffic and location data. The enactment also allowed courts, law enforcement authorities and secret services to access such data.

After a three-day hearing the Constitutional Tribunal adjourned sine die the ruling on a case involving control over secret services. The case has been brought on the initiative of the Human Rights Defender and Prosecutor General. The applicants argue a constitutional violation caused by the absence of a clearly defined set of technical measures which may be used as covert investigative methods.

The Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw dismissed the complaint of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights against the Central Anti-corruption Bureau’s decision refusing disclosure of information on surveillance and PRISM programme.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has yet another time informed the Ministry of the Interior about the practice of expelling foreigners before the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw can hear their appeal against a decision declining them refugee status.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has filed access to public information motions with the Internal Security Agency and the Central Anti-corruption Bureau, requesting the agencies to disclose whether they operationally use Remote Control System (RCS) software.

In March 2014, an Azerbaijani court sentenced the politician Ilgar Mammadov and the journalist Tofig Yagublu. The former has received a prison sentence of seven years, while the latter has been sentenced to five years and six months in prison. The charges filed against Mr Mammadov and Mr Yagublu were based on provisions of Azerbaijan’s Penal Code prohibiting the causing of riots.