Latest

Endy Gęsina-Torres, a journalist working for Polish national television broadcaster TVP, has been ordered to pay a fine of PLN 2,000 by the Regional Court in Białystok. Last year, Mr Gęsina-Torres orchestrated a journalistic sting to reveal the allegedly abhorrent conditions at the Guarded Centre for Foreigners in Białystok and spent three weeks as an inmate of the facility.

On Thursday, 11 September 2014, at 9:00 am, in courtroom F the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw will hold a hearing in the case of the Military Counter-intelligence Service’s refusal to disclose information on surveillance and the PRISM programme.

The judges who in 2007 did not receive their official appointments to judicial offices lodged applications with the European Court of Human Rights. The applicants are represented by Marcin Ciemiński, an advocate with Clifford Chance.

The three candidates nominated for the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize 2014 are the Israeli organisation B’Tselem Israeli, the Maltese Jesuit Refugee Service and the Azerbaijani human rights defender Anar Mammadli.

In two week’s time, on Friday, 12 September, at 9 a.m., the Regional Court in Koszalin holds another hearing in the case of Marcin K. The case involves the infringement of personal interests related to molestation of a minor by a priest. The Court will hear testimonies of Archbishops Marian Gołębiewski and Kazimierz Nycz via a video link.

The HFHR has presented the second opinion on the new draft legislative guidelines for the law on video surveillance put forward by the Ministry of Interior. As compared with the original draft of December 2013, the current version contains several changes enhancing protection against the excessive use of cameras which may interfere with the right to privacy. Yet some proposals of the Ministry still raise doubts.

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has sent a letter to the management of Atletico Madrid in which it has raised the issue of the club’s funding by the Azerbaijani authorities. In the HFHR’s opinion Atletico Madrid players contribute to the promotion of President Ilham Aliyev’s regime by appearing in shirts with the slogan “Azerbaijan. The land of fire”. “We believe this conduct is not worthy of a club with such an excellent sports tradition”, reads the Foundation’s letter.

There is a high risk that in the first half of 2015 EU funds for legal aid for foreigners will not be available. Non-governmental organisations dealing with the protection of foreigners’ rights in Poland are sounding an alarm.

Last week Intigam Aliyev, a well-known Azerbaijani lawyer and human rights defender, was arrested. For years, Intigam Aliyev has been representing applicants before the European Court of Human Rights, as part of Legal Education Society’s activities. He has won over 49 cases in the ECtHR.