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Currently, people with disabilities may only use special assistance during the advocate, legal counsellor and notary professional qualification exams: they can receive a time extension equal to half of the time available for the standard exam.

The South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders was founded in 2009 and unites NGOs from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The Human Rights House Foundation has from the start been an international associated member invited to take part in the selection of member organizations and the development of the Network.

Having considered the Polish Government’s report on the implementation of the Convention against Torture, the UN Committee Against Torture issued recommendations for Poland. The CAT recommended, among other things, that Poland introduce a statutory definition of torture, improve detained persons’ access to legal aid, conclude the inquiry into secret CIA prisons and limit the scope of the detention of migrants (also migrant children).

The European Court of Human Rights has heard the joined cases of Al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah vs. Poland. The applicants are Guantanamo detainees who claim that they were detained and tortured in a secret CIA facility in Poland.

The District Court in Białystok found the journalist Endy Gęsina-Torres guilty of the charges but refrained from imposing a sentence. Mr Gęsina-Torres carried out a journalistic sting in the detention centre for foreigners in Białystok. The court ordered the defendant to pay PLN 2,000 for the Fund for Victim and Post-Penitentiary Support.

As in each year, the competition for the WATCH DOCS Award is the most exciting section of the festival. In 2013, more than ten documentaries from around the world compete for the title of the best film of the 13th Festival’s edition. As always, the international jury will select the film that will leave Warsaw with the prize.

“It should never happen in a democratic state ruled by law that a murder trial is pending for 18 years. The court, however, is not going to look for those responsible within the ranks of the Prosecution Service. The entire justice system – law enforcement bodies, first and second instance courts – should beat their breasts”, these were the summing-up words of the District Court Judge Igor Tuleya, who brought to an end the sixth trial in the case of Waldemar T. After 18 years, the defendant was acquitted once again.

The Circuit Court in Warsaw found that a decision to extradite an opposition activist to Belarus was inadmissible under the law. The proceedings in the case had been pending for a few months.In the first instance, the Circuit Court held that the activist can be legally handed to the Belarusian authorities.

Members of the Human Rights House Network (HRHN) express their concern to learn that the European Union is aiming at further reducing the ordinary budget of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The NGOs call upon the European Union to support the work of the Office, by increasing its ordinary budget as a way to strengthen the impact of its work and cooperation by all States.