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The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Łukasz Kasprowicz, a blogger charged with defaming Zofia Springer, the mayor of Mosina, a town located in Poznań in western Poland. In June 2011 the blogger was acquitted by the Circuit Court in Poznań. A large part of the cassation complaint lodged by the private complainant was dismissed by the SC. In the Court’s opinion the Circuit Court’s judgment was free from the inadequacies identified in the complainant’s cassation.

The Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the complaints of four judges not appointed to office by the Polish President. The cases of six more judges are yet to be heard. The claimants are represented pro-bono by Mr Marcin Ciemiński, Clifford Chance, and Mr Patrick Radzimierski, Salans.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights sent a letter to the Minister of Interior calling for explanations regarding the situation of foreigners without a valid travel document issued by their home country. The absence of such a document substantially hinders the process of obtaining a fixed-term residence permit from the Polish authorities.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and Amnesty International Poland issued an opinion to the Ministry of Interior on the draft premises of the new act on the use of physical force by law enforcement authorities. This is the third opinion given by the HFHR and AI on this law. Last week the bill was discussed at a consensus conference held by the Ministry of Interior.

The Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the cassation complaint filed by the Internal Security Agency against the March judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw. In the judgment the PAC ordered the Agency to disclose statistics on the number of the employed investigative methods, according to the disclosure request submitted by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.

The European Court of Human Rights held last week that the conviction of Izabela Lewandowska-Malec for a letter, in which she had expressed critical opinions about mayor of Świątniki Górne, had violated the applicant’s right to freedom of expression (Application no. 39660/07).

The Head of the Office for Foreigners admitted the HFHR’s complaints directed to the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw before their submittal to the Court. He acknowledged that the submissions raised are fully justified. As a consequence, administrative bodies will be once again processing the case of issuing the Polish travel documents for two Iraqis.

The ECtHR inquired Prime Minister Donald Tusk to provide the expected date of developing the report on the enforcement of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in Poland.This issue was discussed at the meeting of the Committee for Justice and Human Rights of the Sejm, the lower Polish parliamentary chamber, held in April 2012.

On 11 September 2012, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on alleged transportation and illegal detention of prisoners in European countries by the CIA. The draft of the resolution was prepared by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. Hélène Flautre was the Committee’s Rapporteur.