In Almaty, the city court yesterday lifted the ban put on opposition newspapers earlier this month by the same court on statements criticizing president Nazarbayev’s son in law Kulibayev. The court also rejected libel complaints filed by Mr.Kulibayev.
After last week’s controversial court decisions that prohibited any criticism of Mr.Kulibayev and requested the confiscation of several opposition newspapers, the newspapers’ editors, staff and supporters have organised demonstrations and filed legal challenges over the decisions. Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Media Freedom representative, had also critisized the move against the newspapers. Read More

I samband med at Jonas Gahr Støre og H.K.H. Kronprins Haakon vitjar Kasakhstan og deltek på opninga av den norske ambassaden i Astana den 5. februar 2010, så har Den norske Helsingforskomité laga innspel til Utenriksminster Støre og stassekretær i Olje - og Energidepartementet Robin Martin Kåss om dei mest sentrale menneskerettslege utfordringar i Kasakhstan. Helsingforskomiteens kontor i Almaty er no under registrering, og vår aktivitet i regionen vil bli enno større dersom registreringa går utan uforutsette problem. Klikk på lenken under for å lese om dei menneskerettslege utfordringane Kasakhstan står ovanfor. Read More

Helsingforskomiteen mener at menneskerettighetsforsvarere er under økende press i Bosnia og Hercegovina. Et siste eksempel på dette er at Enver Murgić nettopp har blitt sagt opp fra sin stilling som rådgiver ved senteret for kultur og utdanning i Velika Kladuša.
– Det er vanskelig å ikke sette oppsigelsen i sammenheng med Murgić’s arbeid for menneskerettighetene. Han har ofte stått opp og uttalt seg mot kritisk om lokale forhold i Velika Klauša og nasjonalt, sier Bjørn Engesland, generalsekretær i Den norske Helsingforskomité. Oppsigelsen må sees på bakgrunn av at det er tiltakende økonomisk krise i Bosnia og Hercegovina. Lokale ledere må ikke sende det signal at lydighet er nødvendig for å beholde jobben.
Den norske Helsingforskomiteen har i dag sendt to likelydende oppfordringer om å gjeninnsette Murgić i stillingen. Kravene er sendt til ordfører, Admil Mulalić, i Velika Kladuša og lederen for partiet DNZ, Rifat Dolić. DNZ er det dominerende partiet i Velika Kladuša.

The Russian State Duma voted 15 January 2010 in favor of a draft law ratifying Protocol 14 of The European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), after delaying ratification for more than three years. – Russian authorities have given an important message that they want an effective European Court on Human Rights. About 30% of the applications to the Court are from Russian citizens, says Deputy Secretary General Gunnar M. Ekeløve-Slydal. – Protocol 14 simplifies it’s procedures on deciding admissibility of cases and on handling obvious cases. But even a much more speedy Court may not solve the bigger underlying problem: the precarious human rights situation in the Russian Federation and the lack of thrust by its citizens in domestic institutions and remedies.
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Today it is one year since the prominent lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova were murdered in the centre of Moscow. Together with Amnesty Norway and the Human Rights House Foundation, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee has today sent a letter to President Medvedev, urging him to ensure that the Russian authorities carry out a full thorough investigation of the killings of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, and bring all those responsible, including those who ordered the killings, to justice. President Medvedev should also guarantee that the trials are conducted in accordance with international standards for fear trial, and assure that the trials are open to the public. It is also of utmost importance, that the Russian president protects and guarantees the security of human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists, and make shure they can do their work without hindrance as stated in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee is deeply concerned about the growing numbers of attacks on journalists and human rights activists in Russia. There is a worrying pattern, that human rights activists deliberately are exposed to violations they themselves fight against, such as torture, abductions, threats and murder. On December 31 2009, another human rights activist, the 82 year old dissident and leader of the Moscow Helsinki Group Ludmila Alexeeva, was detained while she together with other public activists came to the Red Square to support a demonstration in favor of article 31 of the Russian Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of assembly. Russian is ranked 153th out of 175 countries in the 2009 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom index. Russia fell 12 places from 2008. The reasons most important reasons for this are but growing censorship, lack of free of press, moral and physical pressure on independent journalists and human rights activists, and the atmosphere of impunity. Read the letter to president Medvedev here

-The Norwegian Helsinki Committee welcomes this important move, says Secretary General Bjørn Engesland. On January 15 the lower house of Russia's Duma approved the ratification of protocol No. 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights. The ratification of Protocol 14 has been a long- awaited step, as Russia is the last country to ratify the protocol. – We are happy that the Russian government now recognizes the European Court of Human Rights as one the most important institutions for protecting human rights, Engesland continues. Most of the pending cases in the ECHR originate from Russia, as nearly one-quarter derives from here. By November 2009 there have been 31 850 cases from Russia, which is a total of 27.3 % of all the cases in the ECHR. Most of the cases concern human rights abuses in Chechnya. At least 115 judgments from ECHR have held Russia responsible for enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and torture, and for failing to investigate these crimes properly. Ratifying Protocol 14 will hopefully open up for the reform of the ECHR and increase the effectiveness of the court. As yet, Russia has been paying the compensations, according to the judgments, without investigation of the cases. Ratifying protocol 14 will hopefully change this practice.

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee has received information from the Public Commission in Chechnya about the enforced disappearance of Mr. Said-Salekh Ibragimov, a 19 year old student from Goity village. Ibragimov has not been seen since 21 October 2009. That same evening, Ibragimovs uncle Adnan Ibragimov saw his nephew Said-Salekh Ibragimov in a police office in downtown Grozny, severly beaten. This was the last time when he saw his nephew alive. Read More

The NHC would like to congratulate the Human Rights Centre Memorial, which today received the European Parliament's 2009 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. In his speech to the laureates, the President of the European Parliament Mr Buzek said that: “By awarding this year's prize to Oleg Orlov, Sergei Kovalev and Lyudmila Alexeyeva on behalf of Memorial and all other human rights defenders in Russia, we hope to contribute to ending the circle of fear and violence surrounding human rights defenders in the Russian Federation, and to advance our message that civil society activists everywhere must be free to exercise their most basic rights of freedom of thought and freedom of expression."
The Sakharov Prize has since 1988 honoured exceptional individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression. Like Andrei Sakharov himself, all the winners of the prize have shown how much courage it takes to defend human rights and freedom of expression.Read more

Two employees of the Nakhchivan-based “Democracy and NGO Development Resource Center” were attacked and seriously beaten by an orchestrated group of athletic mobsters on 15 December. Both NGO activists, Ilgar Nasibov and Vafadar Eyvazov were trying to arrange a seminar in the University as part of the project funded by the Norwegian Embassy to combat widespread corruption at Nakhchivan State University. At that time, a group of some fifty sportsmen studying at Sport faculty of the University urged the activists to leave the University campus. When refused, the sportsmen dragged out the activists and fell them down and beat them heavily.
Malahat Nasibova, 2009 Rafto award-winning journalist of «Azadliq» radio (Azerbaijani service of RFERL), who also heads the “Democracy and NGO development Resource Center”, said her husband Ilgar Nasibov and employee Vafadar Eyvazov suffer from rib fractures caused by heavy injuries on abdominal cavity and spine. Read More

Five months ago the human rights community in Russia and beyond lost a friend and colleague, Natalya Estemirova, Memorial's lead reasercher in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation. After her murder on July 15, 2009, Memorial suspended its work in republic. Since that time, the authorities in Chechnya continue to intimidate and persecute human rights defenders and those who seek justice for abuses; several were forced to leave the country due to threats to their lives.
As a result, victims of human rights violations have nowhere to turn. At the same time, there continue to be reports about human rights abuses such as enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment and extrajudicial executions. Houses of families of alleged fighters are being burnt down. The perpetrators of such crimes continue to enjoy impunity.
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