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August 15, 2010

“I won’t be nice and good” – interview with the new Polish Ombudsman

Polish Magazine “Polityka” published interview with Professor Irena Lipowicz, the new Ombudsman, about sexual minorities, partnerships, ethics lessons, the rights of the elderly, as well as whether she’ll be able to oppose the state and the Church.

August 9, 2010

Tribunal of State for left-wing politicians for the secret CIA prisons?

Polish Prosecutor Office is considering the war crime charge for the highest rank government officials for the existence of CIA prisons in the Republic of Poland. The investigation on this issue lasts since 2008 and is classified. However, Polish daily newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza” has found out that the prosecutor now wants to charge the officials for participation in war crimes in front of the Tribunal of State.

August 9, 2010

What we know today about the CIA prisons in Poland – interview with Adam Bodnar

Polish daily newspaper „Gazeta Wyborcza” published an interview with Adam Bodnar, the Head of Legal Division of Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw, Republic of Poland. It concerned the latest news on the alleged existence of secret CIA prisons in the Republic of Poland. The Boarder Guard disclosed information that not only did CIA planes landed in the Republic of Poland, but also transported passangers, possibly terrorism suspects.

August 2, 2010

Allow the Accused to Defend Themselves

According to the Law on National Remembrance, individuals found to have collaborated with Polish communist security services prior to 1990 are denied access to the documents evidencing such collaboration. The European Court of Human Rights recently communicated to Republic of Poland two cases regarding this law, raising the issue of whether the law denies individuals accused of wrongdoing a meaningful opportunity to contest or even see the basis for such charges.

August 1, 2010

New information on the case of the alleged existence of CIA prisons in Poland

The Border Guard Office in the Republic of Poland has provided new information regarding CIA planes which allegedly transported individuals suspected by United States of terrorist activity. These are data detailing the border clearance of the crew and passengers of the planes landing in the Republic of Poland at the Szymany airport in 2002 – 2005.

July 27, 2010

Demanding a Place for Criticism and Dissent in Public Media

On July 6, 2010, a journalist for Program 3 of Polish Radio was reprimanded by his employer for authoring an article in Newsweek criticizing Polish Radio. Polish Radio subsequently refused to release documents explaining the basis for the reprimandbecause of “trade secrets.” In response, Helsinki Foundation has written an open letter denouncing Polish Radio’s employment policies.

July 27, 2010

Trivialisation of Strasbourg

The European Court’s of Human Rights judgements concerning violation of the right to a fair trial or the right to liberty of a person have not been so far the subject of profound deliberations of the authorities. As a result, judges who are the “authors” of these violations are kept in blissful ignorance of the fact that someone in the Court gave a negative opinion about their work.

July 19, 2010

Professional legal aid system necessary for Polish soldiers

Republic of Poland is actively involved in many foreign military missions, which raise the possibility of occurrence of situations where soldiers might be involved in various civil and criminal cases connected to the missions. Republic of Poland, however, has not set up a professional legal aid system for soldiers. Therefore, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights on 13 May 2010 organized a press conference revolving around this issue.

July 19, 2010

Responsibility and Presumption in Chechen Asylum Applications

Chechen emigrants continue to leave the Chechen Republic and the Russian Federation, hoping to find protection and better conditions in other European countries and Republic of Poland is the one which receives the majority of those migrants. Moreover, as the “gateway” country that many Chechens pass through when leaving Europe, Republic of Poland has become the European state that is legally and de-facto responsible for many Chechen emigrants.