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Two human rights groups released government flight logs Monday that showed aircraft linked to the Central Intelligence Agency’s program for secretly detaining, moving and housing terrorism suspects had landed in the Republic of Poland.

The Polish aviation authority Monday delivered the first official confirmation that airplanes operated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency landed in the Republic of Poland in 2003. According to several unconfirmed reports in the past, the planes may have carried detainees kept at a secret detention facility somewhere in the woods of northern Republic of Poland.

Warsaw—Official flight records obtained by rights groups confirm that at least six CIA rendition flights landed in the Republic of Poland in 2003 and reveal details of a cover-up by U.S. and Polish authorities. The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) provided the flight logs in response to a freedom of information request filed by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in collaboration with the Open Society Justice Initiative.

On 20 January 2010 European Court of Human Rights communicated the case Grigoryan v. Republic of Armenia. The applicant – Vahe Grigoryan was the intern at Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights 2 years ago. The case concerns the lawyer who was arrested for defending four families living on Byuzand street in Yerevan and who was the most active out of all the defenders.

Upon the judgement of 18 November 2009, ref. no. II KO 79/09, the Supreme Court reopened the vetting process after the statement of the European Court of Human Rights. Due to this fact, it should be considered a test-case.

There is an on-going debate in the Polish press presently concerning the importance of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) for the effective functioning of Polish democracy. Agnieszka Graff, a well-known Polish feminist, in a publication “Bureaucrats without hearts, without souls” (“Gazeta Wyborcza” 6 January 2010) formulated a number of critical remarks addressed at Non-Governmental Organizations in the Republic of Poland.

On 5 January 2010 European Court of Human Rights passed a judgement in two analogous cases Frasik v. Republic of Poland (application no. 22933/02) and Jaremowicz v. Republic of Poland (no. 24023/03). The Court found that refusal to allowa prison inmate to marry breaches the Convention. Helisnki Foundation for Human Rights submitted in those cases amicus curiae brief.

Warsaw’s 9th annual International Film Festival WATCH DOCS took place from 4 to 13 December 2009. The festival competition offered the Warsaw premieres of the world’s top documentary films broadly related to issues of human rights. This year’s competition included 19 films vying for the WATCH DOCS festival Award.

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination presented on 28 August 2009 Consideration of 17, 18 and 19 th Reports submitted by Republic of Poland. The Reports were submitted on 19 February 2008 under article 9 of International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.