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Marcin K. has filed a lawsuit against Zbigniew R., the Kołobrzeg-Koszalin Diocese and St. Adalbert Roman Catholic Parish. The claimant 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 sex abuse.

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has published a report on ‘Access to data protection remedies in the EU Member States’. The report, which is based on social fieldwork research, shows the most important problems concerning the access to redress mechanisms in cases of data protection violations.

It has been more than six months since the US mass surveillance programme PRISM was reported in the press and we are yet to learn all the details regarding collaboration between Polish authorities and the US National Security Agency. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Panoptykon Foundation have not yet received answers to all the questions submitted to public bodies.

The European Court of Human Rights will look into the case of two men beaten by police officers during interrogation. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights prepared an application against Poland, alleging a violation of the prohibition of torture.

The Supreme Court dismissed the cassation complaint filed by Professor Ryszard Legutko. Professor Legutko had been sued by two secondary school students, Zuzanna Niemier and Tomasz Chabinka for the infringement of their personal interests. The Professor once called the students “snots spoilt by their parents”.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Association for Legal Intervention launched on Monday the monitoring of guarded centres for foreigners. The action, initiated by the Ministry of the Interior, will end on 17 February 2014. The NGO monitoring will be accompanied by internal audits conducted by the Ministry’s officials.

Last week, President of the Ukraine signed laws which curb the right to freedom of assembly, speech and religion. The country’s parliament adopted the enactments in December 2013 in contravention of legislative procedures. “The new laws make the Ukraine an authoritarian state”, warn human rights defenders.

In a week’s time, on 22 January 2014, the Act on proceedings against mentally disturbed persons who pose a threat to life, health or sexual liberty of others will enter into force. In December 2013 the President signed it into law but said he would refer the Act to the Constitutional Tribunal for review.

At the end of December 2013 the President signed the new Foreigners Act. The law does not materially change the Polish model of migration policy but several measures proposed by the legislators can be assessed positively. At first glance, the new act overwhelms with its size: it has over 500 sections and is nearly twice as long as the currently operating law.