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Two inmates of the Barczewo prison have contacted the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights asking us to intervene. In their letters they warned against an outbreak of salmonellosis in their prison.

4 August is the second anniversary of the arrest of Ales Belyatsky, a Belarusian political prisoner, human rights defender and head of the Human Rights Centre “Vesna”. In many countries this date marks the day of solidarity with the civil society of Belarus and the country’s human rights movement.

The HFHR has asked the Minister of Health, Bartosz Arłukowicz, to look into the practices of patient pain management by Polish doctors.The recently published press articles (including, the publications in Duży Format and Polityka weekly magazines) show that doctors very rarely and, if so, reluctantly, prescribe potent painkilling drugs to non-terminal patients.

Recently uncovered information about the US “PRISM” programme revealed that the scheme may also have targeted Polish nationals. The HFHR has expressed its concern over these disturbing reports and has sent written statements to the Sejm committees, the Minister of Administration and Digitisation, and the Minister of Interior, asking about what action has been taken to protect the privacy of Polish citizens on the Internet.

The charges were brought in the aftermath of a controversy surrounding the article “ABC milionera” (Millionaire’s ABC) published in “Tygodnik” in September 2009. Authors of the article, Paweł Pełka, Rafał Gratkowski and the paper’s editor-in-chief Beata Zalot, quoted a letter sent by a reader of the magazine who accused the businessman, a former mayor of Zakopane, of using unfair commercial practices in real property purchases.

In JUly, the Strasbourg Court proclaimed judgement in the case of Remuszko v. Poland. The ruling concerned the freedom of speech aspect of the relations between advertisers and press publishers. The ECtHR held that Poland had not violated the European Convention on Human Rights.

In early July 2013 the Court of Appeal in Białystok decided the case brought by S.W. against Alicja Maciejowska and the Institute of National Remembrance in Białystok, alleging a violation of personal interests.

In July, the first reading of the government-sponsored bills on the President’s consent to the ratification of two Protocols completely abolishing the death penalty took place. The bills concern the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights which forbids the death penalty, even in times of war.

A trial of Witold K., charged with defamation of his former employer, was launched in the District Court in Bydgoszcz. On one of the websites the defendant described his company as a “Polish labour camp”. The K.’s former workplace is a supported employment enterprise. On commencing his employment Witold K. was classified as having a mild level of disability. According to the defendant the company violated a number of labour laws.