ECHR Rejects Challenge to France’s Handling of COVID-19

In a final decision, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has unanimously rejected an applicant’s objections to the handling by the French State of the Covid-19 health crisis. The Court observed that the applicant was complaining about the measures taken by the French State to curb the propagation of the Covid-19 virus among…

Defending Journalists

“The detention and ensuing imprisonment of Belsat Journalists Ms. Katsyaryna Andreyeva, Ms. Darya Chultsova, Mr. Dzmitry Krauchuk, Mr. Artsyom Bahaslauski and Mr. Dzmitry Soltan for exposing illegal police brutality is neither justified nor constitutional. We condemn the campaign of brutality and intimidation and demand the immediate release of illegally detained journalists.” The worsening human rights…

Diplomatic Immunity?

Hungarian MEP József Szàjer (59) has resigned after attending a sex party in Brussels. He was apprehended by the Brussels police after shinning down a drainpipe to escape from the party, at which the participants had flagrantly violated Belgium’s lockdown measures. There were about twenty persons present, two of whom claimed diplomatic immunity. Immunity from…

Protecting Women’s Rights

MEPs have condemned the setback to women’s sexual and reproductive rights in Poland and stress the EU’s legal obligation to uphold and protect them. In a resolution adopted with 455 votes to 145 and 71 abstentions, Parliament says that the ruling of 22 October by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal to make abortion illegal in cases involving…

Taiwan is crucial to the global fight against cybercrime

Taiwan’s national anti-pandemic and cybersecurity teams are playing a crucial role of global significance, writes Huang Ming-chao. Since emerging in late 2019, COVID-19 has evolved into a global pandemic. According to World Health Organization statistics, as of September 30, 2020, there were more than 33.2 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 1 million related…

Senior Romanian prosecutors skipped professional exams and gained status granted by Ministerial decision

We are perhaps one step closer to understanding the conundrum in Romania that the country’s two biggest prosecution offices, the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) and the Section for the Investigation of Justice Criminal Offences (SIJJ), both bring a record number of cases, yet those same cases either fail or end with dubious results.   It…

Defending our Values and our Freedom

Yesterday (Tuesday 10th November) Chancellors Merkel and Kurz and President Macron held an online summit on the implications of the latest Islamist terrorist attacks in France and Austria. They agreed that they wanted to work on reforms for the Schengen area, which consists of Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland,…