Доклад за 2012 г относно правата на човека и демокрацията по света и политиката на ес по въпроса

As Minister of Economic Development, Farhad Aliyev openly criticised monopolies, abuse of power by state officials, the corrupt court system and emphasized these problems as being obstacles on Azerbaijan’s state building and development processes.

On the eve of parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, on October 19, 2005, Farhad Aliyev was detained in his office at the Ministry of Economic Development to the Ministry of National Security (MNS). After being kept there for a few hours, he was told that he was dismissed from his post and detained as a suspect with charges on coup d'état attempt.

Rafiq Aliyev, brother of Farhad Aliev is the former chief executive of Azpetrol, the country’s main petrol retailing and oil transport company. He has been facing charges of tax evasion and an attempt to smuggle cash out of Azerbaijan.

Even though the European Court of Human Rights has ruled on violations of the European Convention on Human Rights during their arrest, Farhad and Rafiq Aliyev remained imprisoned.

An Azerbaijani journalist who works for the newspaper Zerkalo, one of Azerbaijan's few newspapers not controlled by the government of President Aliyev. Known for his reporting on forced evictions in Baku, Abbasov was badly beaten in 2012, allegedly by SOCAR security personnel.

The journalist Khadija Ismayilova from Baku is one of the most important investigative journalists in Azerbaijan. In various newspapers and radio shows she talks about corruption, abuse of power and human rights violations in the country.

Anar Bayramli is an Azerbaijani journalist for Iran's Fars News Agency and Sahar television station. In June 2012, an Azerbaijan court sentenced him to two years' imprisonment on a charge of drug possession. Bayramli's family and several human rights organizations have described the charges as politically motivated. Bayramli's arrest came in a year of growing tension between Azerbaijan and Iran.

Vugar Gonagov, executive director and Zaur Guliyev, editor in chief of Khayal TV were arrested on March 13, 2012 on the charge of organising mass disorder. They were both convicted to a three year suspended sentence by the Khachmaz District Court in northeastern Azerbaijan on March 15.
Zeynalli, Khural newspaper editor-in-chiefwho has been in detention since October 2011 and accused of politically motivated charges of extortion, tax evasion and failure to implement a court decision. The charges were based on Member of Parliament Gular Ahmadova’s claims that Zeynalli attempted to blackmail her.

Bakhtiyar Hajiyev is an Azerbaijani activist and blogger. On 4 March 2011, Hajiyev was questioned by police about Facebook activity related to an upcoming anti-government protest, scheduled for 11 March. Later in the day, he was arrested on charges of having disobeyed a police order not to leave the city of Ganja while charges that he had evaded military service were being investigated.

Isgandarov stood unsuccessfully for office in the 2010 Azerbaijani parliamentary election. In November 2010, the government of Azerbaijan opened a criminal investigation of Isgandarov for "prevention of voting rights by threatening, using force" and "interfering or influencing the work of the election commissions by threatening, using force or threatening to use force". The charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence, but were reinstated in May 2011, one month after Isgandarov was arrested at an anti-government rally on 17 April. After the rally, he was sentenced to fifteen days' administrative imprisonment for an "attempt to hold protest action". A new arrest warrant was issued for Isganadarov on 3 May 2011, one day after he was scheduled to be released from detention.[5] On 27 August, Isganadarov was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for the vote-tampering charges.

The activist, Bakhtiar Hajiyev, had been imprisoned after using social media to promote peaceful demonstrations.

Ramil Safarov was a convicted officer of the Azerbaijani army who, while participating as a lieutenant in a NATO-sponsored course of studies in Budapest in 2004 killed a fellow attendee, Armenian Army lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in his sleep with an axe. In 2006, Safarov was sentenced to life imprisonment in Hungary with a minimum incarceration period of 30 years. After his request under the Strasbourg convention, he was extradited on August 31, 2012 to Azerbaijan where he was greeted as a hero, pardoned by Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev despite contrary assurances made to Hungary, promoted to the rank of major and given an apartment and over eight years of back pay.

A letter of concern was sent on 27 April 2012.

In its resolution adopted on 24 May 2012, the European Parliament:
- Condemns the brutal beating of Idrak Abbasov, journalist for the ‘Zerkalo’ newspaper and the ‘Institute for the Freedom and Safety of Reporters’

- Condemns the campaign of blackmail and intimidation carried out against the investigative journalist Khadija Ismaylova due to her investigations into the alleged business interests of President Aliyev's family

- Takes note of the ongoing investigations launched by the Azerbaijani authorities into the attacks on the journalists; calls on the authorities to ensure effective investigation of these incidents and prosecution of the perpetrators of these attacks

-  Calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to allow peaceful protests and to prohibit police interference in the work of journalists covering demonstrations

- Condemns the harassment, intimidation, and violence against journalists and others peacefully expressing their opinions; calls on the authorities to immediately release from prison or pre-trial detention those detained on politically motivated charges, including six journalists – Anar Bayramli, Ramil Dadashov, Vugar Gonagov, Zaur Guliyev, Aydin Janiyev and Avaz Zeynalli – ,social media activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, lawyer and NGO leader Vidadi Isganderov, human rights activist and lawyer Taleh Khasmammadov, and activists imprisoned on various politically motivated charges relating to peaceful protests in April 2011

In its resolution adopted on 13 September 2012, the European Parliament:

- Deplores the decision by the President of Azerbaijan to pardon Ramil Safarov, a convicted murderer sentenced by the courts of a Member State of the European Union; regards that decision as a gesture which could contribute to further escalation of the tensions between two countries, and which is exacerbating feelings of injustice and deepening the divide between those countries, and is further concerned that this act is jeopardising all peaceful reconciliation processes within the societies concerned and may undermine the possible future development of peaceful people-to-people contact in the region;

- Considers the presidential pardon granted to Mr Safarov as a violation of the diplomatic assurances given to the Hungarian authorities in Azerbaijan's request for transfer on the basis of on the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons;

- Deplores the hero's welcome accorded to Mr Safarov in Azerbaijan and the decision to promote him to the rank of major and pay him eight years' back salary upon his arrival, and is concerned about the example this sets for future generations and about the promotion and recognition he has received from the Azerbaijani state;

Abdulhadi Abdulla Hubail al-Khawaja is one of the most prominent Bahraini human rights activists. He is former president and co-founder of the Bahrain Human Rights Centre, a nonprofit non-governmental organisation which works to promote human rights in Bahrain. He has held a number of positions and played various roles in regional and international human rights organizations.

On 9 April 2011, al-Khawaja was arrested and tried as part of a campaign of repression by the Bahraini authorities following pro-democracy protests in the Bahraini uprising. Front Line Defenders expressed fear for his life following allegations of torture and sexual assault in detention. Al-Khawaja was sentenced on 22 June 2011, along with eight other activists, to life imprisonment. On 8 February 2012, he started an open-ended hunger strike until "freedom or death", protesting continuing detentions in Bahrain. The strike lasted for 110 days, and resulted in his being force-fed by authorities.
Due to his role in the Bahraini uprising, Mahdi Abu Dheeb, founder and leader of Bahrain Teachers' Association, was arrested, brutally tortured, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. His sentence was later reduced to five years by an appeals court. Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience.

The director of the Bahrain Human Rights Centre, a nonprofit non-governmental organisation which works to promote human rights in Bahrain. Mr Rajab, who is a highly respected human rights defender, was arrested on the evening of 5 May after he landed at Bahrain International Airport.

In its resolution adopted on 15 March 2012, the European Parliament:

- Reiterates its call for the immediate and unconditional release of all peaceful demonstrators, political activists, human rights defenders, doctors and paramedics, bloggers and journalists, in particular Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, and Mahdi Abu Dheeb, President of the Bahrain Teachers' Association, who have been detained or convicted for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly or complying with their professional obligations;

- Stresses that demonstrators have expressed their legitimate democratic aspirations and urges the Bahraini authorities to achieve the process of reconciliation within an inclusive and constructive dialogue, which is essential for the democratic stability of Bahrain's diverse society, in which the rights of each citizen should be equally guaranteed both by the letter of the law and in practice

- Urges the Bahraini authorities to conduct thorough, impartial and independent investigations into the human rights violations by the police and security forces and as a result of the military presence in Bahrain during and after the pro-democracy protests against peaceful protestors and citizens, to ensure accountability and prevent impunity for those responsible, regardless of position or rank, and to adopt measures to deter future human rights violations.

A letter of concern was sent on 24 May 2012.

The Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus sentenced Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavalyou to death for committing terrorist attacks in 2005 in Vitebsk, in 2008 in Minsk, and in the Minsk metro in April of 2011. These court orders follow unfair trials which disregarded the rule of law.

Ales Bialiatski is a Belarusian political activist known for his work with Viasna Human Rights Centre, of which he is currently the head. He is the vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights. Bialiatski has received the Homo Homini Award and the Per Anger Prize for his efforts in promoting human rights and democracy. He was arrested by Belarusian authorities on tax evasion charges in 2011.

In 2010 Mikola Statkevich was one of many democratic candidates at the presidential election. After the crackdown of the opposition demonstration he was arrested and put in prison. On 26 May 2011, he was sentenced to 6 years in a medium security penal colony.

Andrei Sannikau was a candidate at the 2010 presidential election in Belarus, and had the second highest percentage of the popular votes after incumbent Alexander Lukashenko. He was incarcerated in a Minsk KGB facility for peacefully protesting at a demonstration after the elections, and faced up to a 15-year imprisonment

Co-head of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party Pavel Seviatynets, was arrested for participating in the rally on December 19, 2010 in Minsk.

Belarusian opposition activist, in January 2010, Kavalenka was sentenced to three years of "limited freedom" for "the illegal hanging of the banned Belarusian national flag" in a public place.

A correspondent for the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, Poczobut has been arrested more than a dozen times by the government of Belarus. In 2011, he was sentenced to a fine and fifteen days in prison for "participation in the unsanctioned protest rally" following the 2010 presidential election. In 2011 and 2012, he was arrested and detained for allegedly libeling President Alexander Lukashenko in his reports.

In 2010 Mikola Statkevich was one of many democratic candidates at the presidential election. After the crackdown of the opposition demonstration he was arrested and put in prison. On 26 May 2011, he was sentenced to 6 years in a medium security penal colony.

A letter of concern was sent on 26 January 2012 echoing the plenary declaration of the President of the European Parliament on 24 January 2012.

sentences and executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty from the penal system by ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in compliance with international standards;

investigation of the allegations made in this context and to provide true justice for the

victims of the heinous acts of terrorism in question.

In its resolution adopted on 29 March 2012 the European Parliament:

- Demands the unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners; reiterates that there cannot be any progress in the EU-Belarus dialogue without progress by Belarus in terms of democracy, human rights and rule of law and until all political prisoners, including Ales Bialiatski, Chair of the Human Rights Centre ‘Viasna’ and Vice-President of the FIDH, two ex-presidential candidates Mikalai Statkevich and Andrei Sannikau, heads of the presidential campaigns of democratic opposition candidates Pavel Seviarynets and Dzmitry Bandarenka, and Syarhey Kavalenka, a political prisoner detained for an alleged breach of house arrest, who has been on a prolonged hunger strike, which has led to a critical deterioration in his health and directly threatens his life, are unconditionally released and their civil rights are fully rehabilitated.

In its resolution adopted on 5 July 2012, the European Parliament:

- Strongly condemns the recent arrest of, and allegations against, Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist for the Polish daily ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’;

- Welcomes the release of Mr Poczobut from custody, and demands that the investigation and all the charges against him be dropped;

- Expresses its deep concern over the deteriorating situation of human rights defenders in Belarus, and condemns all threats against journalists and individuals making use of their right of freedom of expression;

- Calls for the end of judicial harassment of journalists, civil society activists and human rights defenders; calls on the Belarusian authorities to reverse their current repressive policies;

- Considers the transfer of Mykola Statkevych to solitary confinement to be an act of repression and an attempt to force him to sign a request for clemency; calls, therefore, on the Commission and the EEAS to intervene in his case

Leader of the oposition in Burma/Myanmar, the Sakharov Prize winner from 1990 could not be officially be presented with the prize. She was detained under house arrest for almost 15 years.

In its resolution adopted on 20 April 2012, the European Parliament:

-  Welcomes the mutual rapprochement between President U Thein Sein and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the dialogue between the government and opposition

A Camobian politician, in October 2009, Rainsy led local residents at the Cambodia-Vietnam border in a protest against alleged Vietnamese encroachment on Cambodian territory. On October 25, Rainsy was charged with racial incitement and destruction of property, and the Cambodian parliament stripped Rainsy of his immunity from prosecution in November. On January 1, 2010, the Svay Rieng provincial court issued an arrest warrant for Rainsy after he failed to appear in court. Rainsy had fled the country at this point and was residing in France in self-imposed exile. In September 2010, Rainsy was tried in absentia and sentenced to 10 years in prison for charges widely believed to be politically motivated.

In its resolution adopted on 26 October 2012, the European Parliament:

- Is concerned about the situation of Sam Rainsy, the leader of the Sam Rainsy Party, who has been convicted on charges that are allegedly politically motivated; urges the Cambodian Government and opposition parties to work towards reconciliation in order to enable the opposition to play a full role in Cambodian politics and in the forthcoming elections

In Shanxi Province, Feng Jianmei was forced to abort at seven months of pregnancy on June 3, 2012. According to a report by a China-based human rights organization, the woman, Feng Jianmei, was beaten and dragged into a vehicle by a group of Family Planning Officials while her husband, Deng Jiyuan, was out working.  The officials asked for 40,000-yuan fine for breaking birth-control rules from Feng Jianmei’s family.  When they did not receive the money, they forcibly aborted Feng at seven months, laying the body of her aborted baby next to her in the bed. 

In its resolution adopted on 5 July 2012, the European Parliament:

- Strongly emphasises that, according to the International Conference on Population and Development Plan of Action, the aim of family planning programmes must be to enable couples and individuals to make free, responsible and informed decisions about childbearing and to make available a full range of safe, effective and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, and any form of coercion has no part to play;

- Strongly condemns the decision to force Ms Feng to have an abortion and condemns the practice of forced abortions and sterilisations globally, especially in the context of the one-child policy;

- Condemns the attempt to assassinate Dr Mukwege and calls for an independent judicial inquiry to shed light on this attack, which caused the death of his bodyguard;

- Considers it vital to conduct an impartial, in-depth investigation into all past and present cases of human rights violations, and calls on all states in the Great Lakes region to place efforts to put an end to impunity at the heart of the process of improving the rule of law;

Members of the Iran's ethnic Arab minority, Hadi Rashedi, Hashem Shaabani(nejad), Mohammad-Ali Amouri(nejad), Seyed Mokhtar, and Seyed Jaber Alboshokeh were arrested in February 2011 and convicted in July 2012 of "enmity with God", "corruption on earth" and "acting against national security." They were sentenced to death sentences following closed trials in Iran's revolutionary court in Khuzestan. Since then, the five have been frequently taken from their cells and held for days at secret prisons run by the intelligence services, where they have been tortured.

Accounts from several reliable sources indicated in April 2012 that Ms Narges Mohammadi, a highly respected journalist and human rights defender, has been placed in the Evin prison to finish a six-year sentence despite credible reports of her deteriorating health.

Sattar Beheshti was an Iranian blogger who died in early November 2012 several days after being arrested by the Iranian Cyber Police unit for criticizing the government of the Islamic Republic on Facebook and after making a signed complaint of being tortured while in custody. His reported death has drawn international condemnation and led to the dismissal of the commander of Iran's cybercrimes police unit.

Prisoners of conscience, Sakharov Laureates 2012

In its resolution adopted on 14 June 2012, the European Parliament:

- Urges the Iranian authorities to release all activists who are currently imprisoned for their peaceful advocacy of minority rights

- Calls on the Iranian authorities to respect the right of ethnic minorities to use their own languages, in private and public, and in particular to guarantee education in minority languages, in accordance with the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran

A letter of concern was also sent on 12 October 2012.

A letter of concern was sent on 24 May 2012.

In its resolution adopted on 22 November 2012, the European Parliament:

- Is deeply concerned by the reports indicating that Sattar Beheshti was tortured in prison

-  Deeply deplores the lack of fairness and transparency of the judicial process and the denial of due-process rights in Iran; calls on the Iranian authorities to guarantee a stringent respect of fair trial and due process to all detainees, as stipulated in the ICCPR

- Urges the Iranian authorities to release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, including Nasrin Sotoudeh, co-Sakharov Prize winner together with Jafar Panahi, and to allow them to come to the European Parliament in December 2012 to collect their prizes; expresses its concern about the deteriorating health condition of Nasrin Sotoudeh; calls on Iran's judiciary and prison authorities to end the mistreatment of Nasrin Sotoudeh; expresses its sympathy and full solidarity with the requests of Nasrin Sotoudeh; calls on Iran's authorities to allow all prisoners access to lawyers of their choice, necessary medical care and family visits, to which they are entitled under international human rights law, and to treat them with dignity and respect

Biram Ould Abeid and 6 other people, members of the Initiative pour la Résurgence du Mouvement Abolitionniste en Mauritanie – IRA (Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement in Mauritania), an organisation working for the eradication of slavery in Mauritania, were arrested with violence on 29 April and detained, after they had set fire to Maliki legal writings which they consider to be a legitimization of the practice of slavery.

A letter of concern was sent on 30 August 2012.

Nigerian trade union leader Osmond Ugwu was detained in October 2011 and imprisoned for three months on trumped-up charges.

The arrest, which happened during a prayer meeting about ongoing labour negotiations in the south-eastern city of Enugu, was sudden and brutal.

Ugwu spent the first two days in police detention without any food or water, in agony from the injuries he sustained to his legs, back, waist and hands.

Together with fellow union member Raphael Elobuike, Ugwu was charged with attempted murder and assault, in an apparent bid by the police and prosecution to silence the activists.
 
Neither the police nor the state prosecutors have presented any evidence against the two on the attempted murder charge, and the assault charge was based on the claim by the police that Ugwu held on to a police officer’s uniform and tore it while he was being dragged away.

Leader of the unregistered Alga party and a vocal critic of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Vladimir Kozlov was convicted to seven and a half years of imprisonment for inciting unrest in Zhanaozen in december 2011, when government troops killed 15 after a labor strike.

In its resolution adopted 15 March 2012, the European Parliament:

A member of Kuwait’s Shi’a Muslim minority accused of blasphemy, he was arrested on 27 March and taken to Kuwait Central Prison. A case was brought against him with Dowaem al-Mowazry as a civil plaintiff, who called for al-Naqi to be executed as an example to blasphemers. The letter of concern was sent when a few members of the National Assembly of Kuwait called for capital punishment for blasphemy.

A letter of concern was sent on 08 May 2012.

On 9 October 2012 Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old girl from the Swat Valley, was singled out in the school bus on her way home, shot in the head and neck and severely wounded, while two other girls also sustained wounds in the attack. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have claimed responsibility for the attack and issued a statement after the attacks, claiming it was obligatory to kill anyone leading a campaign against Islamic law and announcing that the movement would attempt to kill Yousafzai again if she recovers from her injuries. The security forces have reacted by arresting many suspects of the crime, and the Pakistani Parliament has debated a motion condemning the attack, which has, however, met with resistance from the main opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League N.

Malala Yousafzai had become a national symbol of resistance against the Taliban’s efforts to deprive girls of an education through blogs she wrote since the age of 11, receiving in December 2011 the National Youth Peace Prize, which has been renamed in her honour the National Malala Peace Price.

In Pakistan and many other Muslim countries protests have taken place in admiration of and solidarity with Malala Yousafzai and in condemnation of the brutal attack by the Taliban.

In its resolution adopted on 26 October 2012, the European Parliament:

In the early morning of April 5, 2012, Elena Milashina,a prominent journalist and human rights defender was attacked by two unknown assailants in the Balashika neighborhood of Moscow, along with friend Ella Asoyan who was visiting her in Moscow.

After the brutal murder of Anna Politkovskaya, Novaya Gazeta’s star correspondent, in 2006, Milashina picked up her mantle, reporting on human rights abuses in Russia’s turbulent North Caucasus region, including Chechnya. When Natalia Estemirova, a leading Chechen human rights defender and Milashina’s close collaborator, was brazenly murdered in July 2009, she started an independent investigation into the killing. Novaya Gazeta did not exclude the possibility that the attack on Milashina was linked to her professional activity.

Taisiya Osipova is a Russian opposition activist from the unregistered National Bolshevik Party and "The Other Russia" party. She is the wife of opposition activist Sergei Fomchenkov. In 2011 Osipova was sentenced by the Russian courts to 10 years in prison for possession of heroin. In 2012 the sentence was reduced to 8 years in a retrial ordered by a higher court, after President Dmitry Medvedev had called her original sentence "too harsh". Osipova claims the heroin had been planted in a police raid. Mikhail Fedotov, head of Russia's council on human rights, has called the verdict a "legal mistake".

Boris Efimovich Nemtsov is a Russian statesman and liberal politician. He was a Minister of fuel and energy (1997), Vice Premier of Russia and Security Council member from 1997 to 1998. After a split in the Union of Right Forces in 2008, he co-founded Solidarnost. In 2010, he co-formed coalition For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption (was refused in registration as party). Since 2012 Nemtsov has been co-chair of Republican Party of Russia – People's Freedom Party (RPR-PARNAS), a registered political party.

Pussy Riot is Russian punk band. Three of its members - Nadezhda Andreyevna Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alyokhina - were arrested after protesting in a cathedral against Russian president Vladimir Putin. They were sentenced to two years in a labour camp.

A letter of concern was sent on 05 May 2012.

In its resolution adopted on 13 September 2012, the European Parliament:

- Expresses its deep disappointment with the verdict and the disproportionate sentence issued by the Khamovnichesky District Court in Russia in the case of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Ekaterina Samutsevitch, members of the punk band ‘Pussy Riot’;

A Saudi poet and a former columnist for the Saudi daily newspaper al-Bilad , he became the subject of a controversy after he had posted a series of poetic tweets, sharing an imaginary conversation he was having with the Prophet Mohammed. The tweets were deemed blasphemous, prompting a severe backlash, with over 30,000 responses and a Facebook page calling for his execution.

Kashgari deleted the tweets, apologising repeatedly, but to no avail. He fled to Malaysia, with the intention of seeking asylum in New Zealand, but was deported home, where he faced charges of apostasy, which is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.

A letter of concern was sent on 16 February 2012 echoing the plenary declaration of the President of the European Parliament on 13 February 2012.

Director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, Mazen Darwish' arrest and detention were in clear violation of international law.

A letter of concern was sent on 24 May 2012.

Former Prime Minister of Ukraine. She was charged of abuse of power in connection with the conclusion of gas contracts in 2009. The Prosecutor General's Office in Ukraine brought charges against her on 24 May 2011 and on 11 October 2011 she was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Former high-ranking official from the Tymoshenko, Yuri Lutsenko (former Interior Minister, one of the leaders of the People's Self-Defence Party), was charged with abuse of office and misappropriation of funds and was arrested on 26 December 2010 for alleged non-cooperation with the prosecution. On 27 February 2012 Lutsenko was sentenced to four years in jail for embezzlement and abuse of office. On 7 April 2013 he was released from prison as the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych pardoned him for health reasons.

Former Acting Defence Minister in Yulia Tymoshenko’s government, Valery Ivashchenko has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. on 12 April 2012. Valery Ivashchenko has been in detention since August 2010.  He was charged with having, in November 2009 while Acting Minister of Defence abused his position by signing a plan to sell the Feodosia Marine Engineering Works which was property of the Ministry of Defence. On 14 February, Denmark has granted him asylum.

In its resolution adopted on 24 May 2012, the European Parliament:

- Calls on the Ukrainian authorities to guarantee the impartiality and transparency of the cassation process in Ms Tymoshenko's case, which should take place in line with the fair and just legal standards and practices common in Europe, and demands an end to the use of selective justice targeting political and other opponents; deplores the fact that the High Specialised Court of Ukraine on Criminal and Civil Cases has postponed its ruling on the cassation appeal in Ms Tymoshenko's case against the decision of Pechersk District Court in Kyiv; notes the adjournment of the cassation hearing on the case of Yulia Tymoshenko to 26 June 2012, considers this delay regrettable, and warns against protraction of due legal process;

- Urges the Ukrainian authorities to ensure full respect for the right of all prisoners sentenced on politically motivated grounds, including Ms Tymoshenko, Mr Lutsenko and Mr Ivashchenko, to adequate medical assistance in an appropriate institution, for their right of unrestricted access to their lawyers and for the right to be visited by relatives and other people such as the EU ambassador; stresses the need for Ukraine to respect fully the legal and human rights of defendants and detainees, including the right to medical care, in line with international standards; condemns the use of force by prison guards against Yulia Timoshenko, and recalls the obligation of Ukraine to examine promptly and impartially any complaints of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment;

In its resolution adopted on 13 December 2012, the European Parliament:

- Makes a strong appeal to the Ukrainian authorities to find, together with the European Parliament's envoys, Aleksander Kwasniewski and Pat Cox, a reasonable and just solution to the Tymoshenko case; urges the Ukrainian Government to respect and implement the final decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on the ongoing case of Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuri Lutsenko;

- Calls on Ukraine to end the selective application of justice in Ukraine at all levels of government and to make it possible for opposition parties to participate in political life on the basis of a level playing field; calls on the authorities, in this context, to free and rehabilitate politically persecuted opponents, including Yulia Tymoshenko, Yuri Lutsenko and others.

Marwan Barghouti is one of the most prominent Fatah leaders in the West Bank. He was arrested on April15, 2002, in Ramallah, by the Israeli authorities. He is in detention since that date.

Nabil Al Raee, the artistic director of The Freedom Theatre in Jenin, was arrested overnight on 5 June by the Israeli authorities "on suspicion of illegal activity". The Freedom Theatre is a cultural venue dedicated to the children, youth and adults of Jenin Refugee Camp and beyond and employees of the Theatre are often under harassment of the Israeli side.

In the resolution adopted on 5 July 2012, the European Parliament: