Posts Tagged ‘illegal detention’

Newer posts »

Harassment and illegal arrest of HRD in Sri Lanka – backlash against testimony in the UN

November 30, 2012

Today Front Line Defenders reports the case of  arbitrary arrest of human rights defender Mr Sanjeewa Samarasinghe in Sri Lanka.

On 27 November 2012, human rights defender Mr Sanjeewa Samarasinghe was taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and questioned for 13 hours without a reason given or a lawyer present, before being released. Sanjeewa Samarasinghe is a journalist and the chairman of the State Media Workers’ Association, which defends press freedom and the rights of media workers in Sri Lanka. The human rights defender was taken to the CID office in Colombo 1 with a friend present, although his friend was told to leave the interrogation after 15 minutes. The defender asked the police officers to wait for his lawyer to arrive before questioning him, but this request was ignored and the police proceeded to question him in the absence of his lawyer. The defender’s lawyer was not permitted to enter the CID premises for the entire duration of the interrogation. It is reported that Sanjeewa Samarasinghe was subsequently questioned throughout the night for a period of 13 hours until he was eventually released around 9.30am the following morning on 28 November. Although no reason was given for the arrest, he was reportedly asked during the questioning whether he had been supplying information on human rights violations in Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Sanjeewa Samarasinghe works as a journalist and leads the State Media Workers’ Association, which works on issues related to media freedom, the right to freedom of expression, and which holds conferences, campaigns, and demonstrations on the rights of media workers.

It would seem another case of backlash against those HRDs who testify in the UN on which I reported previously and which has been condemned in the strongest terms by the United Nations.

Posted in Front Line, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

General Prosecutor’s Office in Belarus refuses dialogue with NGOs

August 10, 2012

On 10 August, Human Rights Center “Viasna” reported that it received an answer from the General Prosecutor’s Office about a request it and others NGOs (Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Center “Viasna”, Committee for Protection of the Repressed “Solidarity”, the Centre for Legal Transformation, and the Center for Human Rights) had made to discuss illegal preventive detention.

The Head of the Department for Supervision over the observance of the rights and freedoms of citizens, M.V.Papova, simply made a bureaucratic response stating that “given that you are not a person to whom, in prescribed order, is delegated the right to represent the interests of these citizens, there are no sufficient grounds to consider your appeal”. But human rights activists in their address didn’t ask to represent the interests of citizens in administrative processes, but only meet with the Attorney General of the Republic of Belarus, the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus to discuss the situation, prevent illegal practices, and bring the perpetrators to justice. Basically, they didn’t hear an answer from the Prosecutor General’s Office. The Deputy of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Valiantsin Stefanovich said “representatives of the Belarusian human rights organizations expressed their concern that illegal and politically motivated detentions and arrests of political and civil activists have actually become a norm in the country. It is very unfortunate that not only representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but also judges are involved in these processes. This problem we planned to discuss with senior officials, whose responsibility is to protect legitimate rights of citizens of the country. We did not complain to the sentences of the courts, did not intend to represent these citizens in these public bodies and institutions. It is a pity that the General Prosecutor’s Office declined in an ostrich style the offer of the human rights defenders“.

from: General Prosecutor’s Office covers preventive arrests of oppositionists – Charter97 :: News from Belarus – Belarusian News – Republic of Belarus – Minsk.

Posted in human rights | Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,

Newer posts »