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RAPPORTER OCH DOKUMENT FRÅN TIDIGARE EVENEMANG
BRATISLAVA CSP BELARUS VALET ÖSTERSJÖSEMINARIUM HDIM I WARSZAWA
APPELLER SOM STÖDS AV OSSE-NÄTVERKET
Albania
Statement
Civil society organizations from Albania and other countries call upon the government of Albania to withdraw the two draft laws proposed to Parliament and showcased in public as the "Anti-Defamation Package". We also call upon the Parliament of Albania to, in case the government does not withdraw the bills, dismiss them without delay.
Earlier this month, at the 26th Ministerial Council of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Albania assumed the 2020 Chairmanship of the OSCE. Albania, inspired by a sense of responsibility and driven by the determination to contribute to the security and stability of our continent and to the prosperity of our people, will be looked at to lead other participating states in implementing OSCE commitments, including on freedom of the media. Adopting the newly proposed legislation would go contrary to the role of Albania as a Chairing state.
The importance of freedom of expression in a democratic society is reflected by the ample protection given to it in international law, both at global and in regional level, including in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The signatory organizations note that the two draft laws of the anti-defamation package provide the Albanian Media Authority and Albanian Communication and Postal Authority with quasi-judicial competences to sanction media outlets, while these bodies, although independent by definition in the law, provide no functional guarantees to operate independently in practice, as should the courts.
Albania has sufficiently laws already to regulate cases in which media violate the rights of others and in this context there are precedents decided on in Albanian courts.
We underline that self-regulation rather than legal regulation of the media is important, in particular in countries in transition to democracy, as is Albania, where often media is connected with known interests of the businesses or political parties. Self-regulation entails a combination of standards laid down in ethical codes of conduct for the media, which are necessary to support freedom of expression, and of procedures to allow this conduct to be monitored and to hold media accountable. Self-regulation preserves the independence of the media and protects it from the partisan interventions of the government.
The signatories call upon international bodies, including the OSCE, the EU and the Council of Europe, whose presence in Albania contributes to the rule of law and human rights, to take a clear and public stance on these two draft laws, disapproving them as initiatives that violate freedom of expression.
Civil society organizations from Albania and other countries call upon the government of Albania to withdraw the two draft laws proposed to Parliament and showcased in public as the "Anti-Defamation Package". We also call upon the Parliament of Albania to, in case the government does not withdraw the bills, dismiss them without delay.
Earlier this month, at the 26th Ministerial Council of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Albania assumed the 2020 Chairmanship of the OSCE. Albania, inspired by a sense of responsibility and driven by the determination to contribute to the security and stability of our continent and to the prosperity of our people, will be looked at to lead other participating states in implementing OSCE commitments, including on freedom of the media. Adopting the newly proposed legislation would go contrary to the role of Albania as a Chairing state.
The importance of freedom of expression in a democratic society is reflected by the ample protection given to it in international law, both at global and in regional level, including in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The signatory organizations note that the two draft laws of the anti-defamation package provide the Albanian Media Authority and Albanian Communication and Postal Authority with quasi-judicial competences to sanction media outlets, while these bodies, although independent by definition in the law, provide no functional guarantees to operate independently in practice, as should the courts.
Albania has sufficiently laws already to regulate cases in which media violate the rights of others and in this context there are precedents decided on in Albanian courts.
We underline that self-regulation rather than legal regulation of the media is important, in particular in countries in transition to democracy, as is Albania, where often media is connected with known interests of the businesses or political parties. Self-regulation entails a combination of standards laid down in ethical codes of conduct for the media, which are necessary to support freedom of expression, and of procedures to allow this conduct to be monitored and to hold media accountable. Self-regulation preserves the independence of the media and protects it from the partisan interventions of the government.
The signatories call upon international bodies, including the OSCE, the EU and the Council of Europe, whose presence in Albania contributes to the rule of law and human rights, to take a clear and public stance on these two draft laws, disapproving them as initiatives that violate freedom of expression.
Azerbaidjan
Civic Solidarity Platform statement on the attempt on the life of prominent Azerbaijani human rights activist Ogtay Gulaliyev
The Civic Solidarity Platform condemns the attempt on the life of prominent Azerbaijani human rights activist, Ogtay Gulaliyev, and calls on the OSCE, Council of Europe, UN and their member states to conduct an international investigation and demand that the Azerbaijani authorities find and punish those responsible for this attempt on the persistent critic.
Oktay Gulaliyev was deliberately run over by a car in the capital city of Azerbaijan, Baku, during daytime on October 29, 2019, while regularly crossing a traffic light regulated crosswalk. As a result of the collision, the human rights defender received serious head injuries. Gulaliyev, who was taken to the hospital and was conscious for the first 4 hours after the accident, was held hostage by the state medical system. The human rights activist was waiting for the doctors’ help, who deliberately did nothing despite his condition worsening by the hour. Doctors, essentially, didn’t do anything following the first 4 hours either. The Azerbaijani neurosurgeon intentionally performed the necessary surgical intervention only 18 hours after the human rights activist was run over, so that irreversible processes occur in the injured brain that, if Gulaliyev, who is still in a coma, survives, will cause full or partial physical disability.
Following the public outcry, at home and abroad, caused by the attempt on the life of the human rights activist, the Azerbaijani authorities allocated a special plane which transported Gulaliyev to one of the best clinics in Istanbul, where highly qualified doctors operated on him again.
According to Turkish doctors, if appropriate medical care were given in the first 4 hours after the accident, the human rights activist’s life would not be in the danger it is now. A basic neurosurgical procedure would have eliminated the extensive brain hemorrhage that progressed for 18 hours and led to Gulaliyev falling into a coma.
A group of representatives of the independent civil society of Azerbaijan carried out an initial investigation during the month following the tragedy, which finally indicates that the car collision was not a tragic accident, it was staged to look like one.
Just during the year of 2019, Gulaliyev was summoned 8 times by various law enforcement agencies, he was then illegally interrogated, subjected to psychological pressure and demanded to stop his human rights activities exposing torture and protecting political prisoners. For his human rights activities, Gulaliyev was arrested in 2012 and he spent several months in prison. After a local and international campaign in his defense, he was released, however, the authorities put him under a travel ban that had been in effect until 2018.
A month before the assassination attempt, senior law enforcement officials called Gulaliyev for another preventive and intimidating conversations where the authorities openly told him that they would not put him in jail again, but that he could become the victim of an accident with a possible fatal outcome or one resulting in complete loss of mental and/or physical capacity.
Gulaliyev himself has repeatedly spoken about these threats to his colleagues, human rights activists and journalists.
The Civic Solidarity Platform believes that the human rights activist became a victim because of his principled position on documenting the torture of dozens of detainees arrested during mass protests in the Ganja city, in July 2018.
A month after the murder attempt of Ogtay Gulaliyev, the Azerbaijani authorities, in their usual manner, disbarred the prominent lawyer, Shahla Humbatova, specializing in the protection of victims of torture, political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. The authorities’ goal was to prevent her from protecting the victims of the political repression in Azerbaijan.
Civic Solidarity Platform urges the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately put an end to the attacks on human rights defenders and lawyers, also guarantee the freedom and safety of human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers focusing on protecting fundamental human rights.
The Civic Solidarity Platform calls on the authorities of Azerbaijan and the OSCE member states to make every possible effort in order to provide the necessary medical care, necessary to save the life of human rights activist, Ogtay Gulaliyev.
The Civic Solidarity Platform, in anticipation of the 26th OSCE Ministerial Council, urges the member states to give a principled assessment of the latest attacks on the critics of Azerbaijan, which will undoubtedly aggravate against the backdrop of impending municipal and parliamentary elections that will be held in the next 3 months.
December 4, 2019
The Civic Solidarity Platform condemns the attempt on the life of prominent Azerbaijani human rights activist, Ogtay Gulaliyev, and calls on the OSCE, Council of Europe, UN and their member states to conduct an international investigation and demand that the Azerbaijani authorities find and punish those responsible for this attempt on the persistent critic.
Oktay Gulaliyev was deliberately run over by a car in the capital city of Azerbaijan, Baku, during daytime on October 29, 2019, while regularly crossing a traffic light regulated crosswalk. As a result of the collision, the human rights defender received serious head injuries. Gulaliyev, who was taken to the hospital and was conscious for the first 4 hours after the accident, was held hostage by the state medical system. The human rights activist was waiting for the doctors’ help, who deliberately did nothing despite his condition worsening by the hour. Doctors, essentially, didn’t do anything following the first 4 hours either. The Azerbaijani neurosurgeon intentionally performed the necessary surgical intervention only 18 hours after the human rights activist was run over, so that irreversible processes occur in the injured brain that, if Gulaliyev, who is still in a coma, survives, will cause full or partial physical disability.
Following the public outcry, at home and abroad, caused by the attempt on the life of the human rights activist, the Azerbaijani authorities allocated a special plane which transported Gulaliyev to one of the best clinics in Istanbul, where highly qualified doctors operated on him again.
According to Turkish doctors, if appropriate medical care were given in the first 4 hours after the accident, the human rights activist’s life would not be in the danger it is now. A basic neurosurgical procedure would have eliminated the extensive brain hemorrhage that progressed for 18 hours and led to Gulaliyev falling into a coma.
A group of representatives of the independent civil society of Azerbaijan carried out an initial investigation during the month following the tragedy, which finally indicates that the car collision was not a tragic accident, it was staged to look like one.
Just during the year of 2019, Gulaliyev was summoned 8 times by various law enforcement agencies, he was then illegally interrogated, subjected to psychological pressure and demanded to stop his human rights activities exposing torture and protecting political prisoners. For his human rights activities, Gulaliyev was arrested in 2012 and he spent several months in prison. After a local and international campaign in his defense, he was released, however, the authorities put him under a travel ban that had been in effect until 2018.
A month before the assassination attempt, senior law enforcement officials called Gulaliyev for another preventive and intimidating conversations where the authorities openly told him that they would not put him in jail again, but that he could become the victim of an accident with a possible fatal outcome or one resulting in complete loss of mental and/or physical capacity.
Gulaliyev himself has repeatedly spoken about these threats to his colleagues, human rights activists and journalists.
The Civic Solidarity Platform believes that the human rights activist became a victim because of his principled position on documenting the torture of dozens of detainees arrested during mass protests in the Ganja city, in July 2018.
A month after the murder attempt of Ogtay Gulaliyev, the Azerbaijani authorities, in their usual manner, disbarred the prominent lawyer, Shahla Humbatova, specializing in the protection of victims of torture, political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. The authorities’ goal was to prevent her from protecting the victims of the political repression in Azerbaijan.
Civic Solidarity Platform urges the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately put an end to the attacks on human rights defenders and lawyers, also guarantee the freedom and safety of human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers focusing on protecting fundamental human rights.
The Civic Solidarity Platform calls on the authorities of Azerbaijan and the OSCE member states to make every possible effort in order to provide the necessary medical care, necessary to save the life of human rights activist, Ogtay Gulaliyev.
The Civic Solidarity Platform, in anticipation of the 26th OSCE Ministerial Council, urges the member states to give a principled assessment of the latest attacks on the critics of Azerbaijan, which will undoubtedly aggravate against the backdrop of impending municipal and parliamentary elections that will be held in the next 3 months.
December 4, 2019
Call to investigate the use of police force during protests in Tbilisi
On 20 June 2019 Russian parliamentary deputy Sergey Gavrilov was visiting Georgia to take part in the Inter-Parliamentary assembly on Orthodoxy. The assembly session was held in the Georgian parliament where Gavrilov made a speech in Russian from the seat of head of parliament. This fact caused a big wave of protest amongst opposition parties and the Georgian public. The assembly session was cancelled and Gavrilov was escorted to Tbilisi airport, after protesters began protesting in front of his hotel.
Later in the evening over 30 000 people gathered on Rustaveli avenue, in Tbilisi, to protest against a Russian politician speaking in Georgian parliament. Protesters demanded the resignation of the parliamentary chairman Irakli Kobakhidze. Later that night, the protest tribune was overtaken by the activists of former ruling party- United National Movement. UNM member Nika Melia called on protesters to march into parliament, and for a few hours protestors used stones and other metal objects to attempt to force their way into the building. Police tried to protect the building from the inside, and thousands more were involved in maintaining the peace during the protest. Mamuka Bakhtadze, Prime Minister of Georgia, later called on protesters to cease attempts to break into parliament, adding that tear gas and rubber bullets were a signature of the previous violent UNM regime and would not be used by the government in power.
However, despite Bakhtadze’s promises, at 01:00 a.m special forces started to attack protesters, shooting teargas and rubber bullets into the crowd. All of the opposition leaders have left the venue after the events got violent. At around 01:45 a.m, additional riot police were deployed including a water cannon, driving the remaining protesters down Rustaveli Avenue. Small groups of protesters continued to clash with police until around 05:00 a.m on 21 June.
Over 300 people were arrested and more than 240 hospitalized, including civilians, journalists, police and special forces. The firing at short range of rubber bullets caused serious injuries and resulted in several people losing eyes. Media footage shows how officers chased unarmed civilians down the streets, across parks and into apartment entrances.
On Friday, 21 June Irakli Kobakhidze, head of Georgian parliament resigned from his post. The official governmental position is that force constituted a proportional response to provocation by UNM activists.
Civil society activists have announced another peaceful protest on 21 June 2019 demanding the change of country’s electoral system to proportional representation and calling for the resignation of of the Minister of internal affairs Giorgi Gakharia.
We, the undersigned NGOs, are extremely concerned at the current situation and strongly urge the Georgian authorities to
conduct a prompt and independent investigation into reports of the excessive use of force by police and special forces during the protests and ensure the respect of the exercise of rights to freedom of assembly and expression as guaranteed by the constitution.
Statement against large-scale crack down on human rights activists and other individuals in the occupied Crimea
Today, on 27 March 2019, representatives of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in the occupied Crimea raided houses of Crimean Tatars located in the city of Simferopol, Bilohirsky and Krasnohvardiysky rayons. Totally, around 27 houses were searched, at least 20 Crimean Tatars were apprehended and taken to the FSB office in Simferopol. This is the largest politically-motivated arrests campaign, conducted simultaneously against Crimean Tatar community (including the activists of the Crimean Solidarity movement) since the beginning of Crimea’s occupation by the RF. Detained persons are being accused of organising of (participating in) activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir religious organisation declared as a terrorist one by the RF.
We, the undersigned NGOs, are highly concerned with this new wave of mass searches and strongly condemn the systematic groundless persecution of the Crimean Tatars by the occupational authorities.
In light of the above-mentioned, we demand the authorities of the Russian Federation and the occupational Crimean authorities:
To immediately release detained Crimean Tatars. To conduct prompt, effective, and impartial investigation of unlawful detentions and instances of physical violence committed against activists in Crimea. To ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. To take all the necessary measures to prevent such attacks in the future. To release the detainees and stop persecution of Crimean Tatars, Crimean Muslims, including administrative arrests, criminal charges, confiscation of property and other repressions.
We ask international organizations and foreign governments:
To continue putting pressure on the Russia’s government to stop persecution of Crimean Solidarity activists and other Crimean Tatar people. To condemn the use by Russia of its own “anti-terrorism and anti-extremism” legislation for prosecuting lawyers, human rights defenders and civil society activists in the occupied Crimea. To impose personal sanctions on persons involved into gross violations of human rights in the occupied Crimea, as well as on those directly involved in the obstruction of lawyers’ work and persecution of the members of the Crimean Solidarity movement. To strengthen sectoral sanctions against the Russian Federation for systematic gross violations of human rights and war crimes committed in the occupied Crimea.
Detailed information:
Searches were carried out in the houses of Crimean Tatar activists belonging to the Crimean Solidarity movement. This is a platform, which unites relatives of political prisoners and their lawyers, with the goal of helping all Kremlin’s hostages suffering from injustice in Crimea. In frames of their activity, members of Crimean Solidarity provide legal, financial and moral assistance to the victims and their relatives.
The Russian media reported that five individuals (Remzi Bekirov, Shaban Umerov, Riza Izetov, Farid Bazarov, Ruslan Suleymanov) are accused of organising activities of a terrorist organisation under Article 205.5, Section 1, of the Russian Criminal Code, while others of participating in activities of a terrorist organisation (Article 205.5, Section 2). FSB officers are still looking for another 4 Crimean Tatars. Due to this, FSB officers carry out searches in all the houses in Strohanivka village of Simferopol region, the whole area is blocked, checkpoints to examine the cars have been set up.
The charges are based on the Crimean Tatars’ alleged participation in the Hizb ut-Tahrir religious organisation, recognised as a terrorist one by the Russia’s Supreme Court in 2003. According to the Ukrainian legislation, Hizb ut-Tahrir’s activity is legitimate.
Moreover, the FSB officials acted in violation of the established rules: for instance, searches were carried out without a warrant, lawyers were not admitted to their clients, the FSB representatives damaged property in the searched houses.
It should be reminded that apart from those persons apprehended today, 33 Crimean Tatars have been already accused on similar charges. Among them is founder of the Crimean Contact Group Emir Usein Kuku, who continuously helped the families in search of their abducted relatives and protected rights of other victims of the human rights abuses. He has been imprisoned for more than 3 years already. All the leading human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, qualify his case as a politically motivated. The same relates to Server Mustafaev, one of the founders of the Crimean Solidarity movement.
Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of the Kremlin
Center for Civil Liberties
Crimean Human Rights Group
CrimeaSOS Public Organisation
Human Rights Center ZMINA
Media Initiative for Human Rights
Regional Center for Human Rights
Ukrainian Institute for Human Rights
Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union
Respect and recognition for the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria: strong condemnation of the announcements for a possible deregistration of a human rights organization
The Solidarity Platform calls on the Bulgarian government as well as on local and regional authorities to ensure respect and recognition for the Macedonian minority in the country and to prevent any attempt of violation or unduly restriction of the freedom of assembly, such as the announced deregistration of a minority human rights organization.
Several days ago, the Bulgarian prosecution requested the competent Court to suspend the registration of an organisation formed by ethnic Macedonians for the purposes of protecting the minority’s basic rights and freedoms. The organisation was registered by the Registration Agency, under the Ministry of Justice, earlier this year under the name ‘Civic association for protection of fundamental individual human rights’. However, one week ago, the Deputy Prime Minister Karakachanov, from the IMRO political party - which also sought the prohibition of several other organisations including the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, wrote to the Prosecutor General and requested deregistration of the organisation as a threat to national security and the ‘unity of the nation’. The request to the Balgoevgrad Regional Court was made by the Regional Prosecutor of Blagoevgrad after he received instructions from the Prosecutor General. The Bulgarian government does not recognize Macedonians as a separate ethnic group and considers any expression of a Macedonain identity as a threat.
The Deputy Prime Minister explicitly referred to the organisation's goals - to protect the rights of the Macedonian minority. Consequently, the case was referred to the Blagoevgrad Regional Prosecution, which ordered a ‘check’, including questioning of the members about their ethnic background and activities. As a result, a few days ago it brought a request in the Blagoevgrad Regional Court requesting the suspension of the juridical person status of the association. The prosecutor argues that the association is a threat to the ‘unity of the nation’ because it declares the existence of Macedonians in Bulgaria, which is ‘anti-Bulgarian’, and because it pursues political objectives.
Alleged violations of fundamental rights and cases of hate speech and intimidations against the Macedonian community in Bulgaria are continuously rising and must be tackled. The Solidarity Platform reminds the European Commission of its duty to ensure the respect for minority rights in Bulgaria and elsewhere in the EU as it is the guarantor of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. The EU institutions must undertake institutional and political action to stop these fundamental rights violations against the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria, and to guarantee the restoration of rights to European citizens belonging to minorities. Action is urgently needed also because of the developments at the Committee of Ministers on the execution of several judgments of the ECtHR related to the refusal to register Macedonian organisations. The last review of this group of cases, which is under the enhanced procedure for many years, was in September. The Committee of Ministers sought the preparation of an interim resolution for non-compliance to be adopted next year. This is a case of a harassment of human rights defenders and it is deeply worrying that the Bulgarian government is failing to act to put a stop to these violations. We demand respect and recognition for the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria and we strongly condemn the announcements for a possible deregistration of a human rights organization.
The Solidarity Platform calls on the Bulgarian government as well as on local and regional authorities to ensure respect and recognition for the Macedonian minority in the country and to prevent any attempt of violation or unduly restriction of the freedom of assembly, such as the announced deregistration of a minority human rights organization.
Several days ago, the Bulgarian prosecution requested the competent Court to suspend the registration of an organisation formed by ethnic Macedonians for the purposes of protecting the minority’s basic rights and freedoms. The organisation was registered by the Registration Agency, under the Ministry of Justice, earlier this year under the name ‘Civic association for protection of fundamental individual human rights’. However, one week ago, the Deputy Prime Minister Karakachanov, from the IMRO political party - which also sought the prohibition of several other organisations including the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, wrote to the Prosecutor General and requested deregistration of the organisation as a threat to national security and the ‘unity of the nation’. The request to the Balgoevgrad Regional Court was made by the Regional Prosecutor of Blagoevgrad after he received instructions from the Prosecutor General. The Bulgarian government does not recognize Macedonians as a separate ethnic group and considers any expression of a Macedonain identity as a threat.
The Deputy Prime Minister explicitly referred to the organisation's goals - to protect the rights of the Macedonian minority. Consequently, the case was referred to the Blagoevgrad Regional Prosecution, which ordered a ‘check’, including questioning of the members about their ethnic background and activities. As a result, a few days ago it brought a request in the Blagoevgrad Regional Court requesting the suspension of the juridical person status of the association. The prosecutor argues that the association is a threat to the ‘unity of the nation’ because it declares the existence of Macedonians in Bulgaria, which is ‘anti-Bulgarian’, and because it pursues political objectives.
Alleged violations of fundamental rights and cases of hate speech and intimidations against the Macedonian community in Bulgaria are continuously rising and must be tackled. The Solidarity Platform reminds the European Commission of its duty to ensure the respect for minority rights in Bulgaria and elsewhere in the EU as it is the guarantor of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. The EU institutions must undertake institutional and political action to stop these fundamental rights violations against the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria, and to guarantee the restoration of rights to European citizens belonging to minorities. Action is urgently needed also because of the developments at the Committee of Ministers on the execution of several judgments of the ECtHR related to the refusal to register Macedonian organisations. The last review of this group of cases, which is under the enhanced procedure for many years, was in September. The Committee of Ministers sought the preparation of an interim resolution for non-compliance to be adopted next year. This is a case of a harassment of human rights defenders and it is deeply worrying that the Bulgarian government is failing to act to put a stop to these violations. We demand respect and recognition for the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria and we strongly condemn the announcements for a possible deregistration of a human rights organization.
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