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The HFHR requested Justice Minister Jarosław Gowin to name information or circumstances which allowed him to assess the evidence collected in the investigation of CIA secret prisons in Poland on the basis of which a decision on indicting former Head of Intelligence Agency Zbigniew Siemiątkowski was taken.

The ECtHR found that Poland violated the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment in respect of a disabled inmate. The Court proclaimed judgement in the case of D.G. v. Poland. The applicant was detained in 2001. He is paralysed and claims that he developed serious health problems in detention. Because of that it was absolutely necessary to provide him with adequate personal hygiene products and medical accessories such as a catheter, which, as the applicant argues, were given to him too rarely considering his needs.

Poland’s legislators continue to work on the draft new Foreigners Act. In November last year the HFHR presented its remarks to the bill. In late January 2013 the Ministry of Interior hosted a consensus conference to discuss the remarks made by NGOs.

The ECtHR decided to lift the secrecy in the proceedings pending in the case of al-Nashiri v. Poland. The case was communicated to the Polish Government in July 2012. The applicant claims that in years 2002-2003 he was tortured in a secret CIA prison in Poland.

Over the last two years, the HFHR has carried out the programme “Health Care in Polish Prisons – The Pursuit of Compliance with Human Rights Standards”. “After two years of our programme we are well aware of numerous systemic problems in the area of prison health care”, says Maria Ejchart, project coordinator. “

In 2011 Józef Głuchowski sued two bank establishments in Warsaw alleging that his personal interests had been infringed upon as the banks had denied him access to toilet facilities.In October 2009 Mr Głuchowski visited two banks located at Plac Bankowy, a busy business area in Warsaw city centre. He had to use the toilet there. For that purpose he went to the room which, according to his knowledge, was a designated toilet facility. Yet the door was locked and the room marked as ‘utility area’.

In Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, the police arrested on 26 January 2013 around 40 demonstrators who protested against the rule of President Ilham Alijew and expressed support for residents of the city of Ismayilli, whose earlier protests had been brutally dispersed.

The requirements for candidates for judge’s assistants and court personnel do not match the reality. Furthermore, it follows from the HFHR report entitled the remuneration system for judge’s assistants and court personnel is unclear and inadequate, and is coupled with unsatisfactory perspectives for promotion and professional development.

The Court of Appeal in Łódź discontinued the case against the creator of the Antykomor.pl web portal with respect to the charges involving defamation of the President of Poland.