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Shaminder Puri appealed against the decision of the first-instance court given in the case against the Polish Border Guard Service. Mr Puri, a British Sikh, filed a suit seeking protection of his personal interests reportedly violated by Border Guard officers ordering him to remove his turban during security checks performed at Okęcie Airport in Warsaw. In December 2011 the Circuit Court in Warsaw dismissed all Mr Puri’s claims.

The Provincial Administrative Court (WSA) in Warsaw revoked the decision of the Bureau’s director to discontinue the proceedings initiated upon the HFHR’s motion to disclose statistics on investigative methods used by the CBA, including wire tapping. Giving the oral justification of the judgment, the court noted the huge significance of the right to public information for developing a civic society.

Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that Poland will take actions to develop a common and strong position of the European Union urging Russia to conduct a transparent and consistent with international standards investigation into the death of Sergei Magnitsky. In a situation of the unsatisfactory response from the Russian Federation, Poland will strive to develop in the European Union a list of persons who have contributed to the death of S. Magnitsky and to impose visa and financial sanctions to these persons.

In January 2012 Minsk Court upheld the custodial sentence of four and a half years in a penal colony for Ales Belyatsky, the head of Human Rights Centre Vesna. Mr Belyatsky’s wife has paid $90,000 to an account of the court, the sum the activist was ordered to pay by the first-instance as alleged tax arrears. The money had been collected through voluntary donations made during a fund raising campaign launched by Belarusian human rights defenders.

Katarzyna Barszczewska, a woman suffering from cerebral palsy, and her partner came last year to a local Register Office to arrange for their marriage ceremony. The registrar refused to solemnize the couple’s marriage and referred the case to the court. In January 2012 the court consented to the marriage between Katarzyna Barszczewska and her partner.

Delegated judges, whose number has been increasing year by year, are becoming more and more important part of the Ministry of Justice staff. Their number has gone up five times in last five years. However, there are no detailed recruitment and selection procedures for vacant civil service posts within the Ministry, says the report of the HFHR.

In January 2012, the Court of Appeal in Cracow changed the decision of the first-instance court and dismissed the lawsuit for the protection of personal interests brought against Andrzej Jezior in an attempt to hold him liable for comments posted by internet users on his blog.

The HFHR appealed to the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers to strictly supervise the enforcement of the ECtHR judgement entered in the case Kubaszewski v. Poland. The case involves an infringement of the right to freedom of expression and demonstrates a broader problem of disregarding the relevant standards of the ECtHR by Polish courts.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights requested Jan Dworak, the head of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT), to disclose detailed information on the procedure of awarding television broadcast licences for the operation of multiplex digital terrestrial broadcasting services.