Properties For Rent Cyprus
Romania
A government decree permits students in state-funded primary and secondary schools to be taught in their own language, with the exception of secondary school courses on the history and geography of the country. In the Moldavia region, some in the Roman Catholic Csango community who speak an archaic form of Hungarian complained that there was no schooling available in their language. The Csango community, estimated by some to number several tens of thousands, was fractured, with a majority of Csangos considering themselves ethnic Romanian and a minority ethnic Hungarian.According to the preliminary results of the March census, the Romani population numbered approximately 535,000; however, some observers, including the European Commission, estimated that the Roma population was between 1.1 and 1.5 million. Romani groups complained that police brutality--including beatings, prejudice, and racial harassment at the local level--was routine (see Section ... [Read More]
2004 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Belarus
The law specifies that police may detain an individual for up to 3 hours without providing any explanation for the detention, and the authorities frequently used this provision to detain opposition members and demonstrators. Police often detained individuals for several hours for the ostensible purpose of confirming their identity. On December 22, police detained 70 people about to depart for Kiev to observe the Ukrainian presidential elections. They were held for 4 hours and released without charge. The detention prevented the observers from boarding their scheduled train. The law allows police to detain a person suspected of a crime for up to 10 days without a formal charge and up to 18 months once charges are filed, and the authorities generally did not exceed these limitations. The law gives detainees the right to petition the court to determine the legality of their detention. In practice, appeals by suspects seeking court review of their detentions were frequently suppressed beca ... [Read More]
Ukraine
Official corruption is widespread. The Government apparently enforced anticorruption statutes selectively for political ends. While anticorruption statutes were applied increasingly against lower-level officials, such enforcement reportedly is lacking against high-level officials. In 1999 Vasylkiv Mayor Valeriy Popovych was detained briefly on corruption charges after complaining of government harassment due to his support for opposition candidate Moroz during the October 1999 presidential election. Charges against Popovych were dropped in January; however, in February he resigned his post under pressure from regional authorities. In 1999 a number of persons arraigned on criminal and corruption charges claimed that they were victimized because of their support for the former Prime Minister, who is currently on trial abroad for money laundering, and government opponent Pavlo Lazarenko. Former government officials Petro Shkudun, Mykola Syvulsky, and Vasyl Koval claimed that their cases w ... [Read More]
Belarus
Both the Criminal Procedure and Administrative Codes specify that police may detain a person for up to 3 hours without providing any explanation for the detention, and the authorities frequently used this provision to detain opposition members and demonstrators. According to the Criminal Code, police may detain a person suspected of a crime for 24 hours without a warrant, within which time the procurator is notified. The procurator then has 48 hours to review the legality of the detention. If the procurator finds that the detention is legal, a suspect may be held for a maximum of 10 days without a formal charge. However, once the decision is made to hold a suspect, formal charges generally are filed. Once a suspect is charged, a trial must be initiated within 2 months, although in some cases the procurator general may extend pretrial detention to 18 months for further investigation. Alternatively a suspect who has been charged may be released on a written pledge not to fle ... [Read More]
Belarus
Official entry and exit regulations specify that citizens who wish to travel abroad must first obtain exit visas valid for 1 to 5 years. Once the traveler has this document, travel abroad was not restricted further by law; however, the authorities occasionally limited foreign travel. For example, they delayed issuing "global" exit visas to some opposition activists in an effort to hinder their political activity abroad. In June the authorities refused to issue an exit visa to Andrei Klimov, a former deputy of the 13th Supreme Soviet who was jailed for 4½ years (see Section 1.e.). The regime also delayed issuing passports to opposition politicians, sometimes for several months, in an effort to restrict their travel abroad for political activities. ... [Read More]
2004 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Russia
The Federal Law on Information and a law on participation in international information exchange regulate access to government information. Both laws authorize public access to all government information resources unless the information is designated confidential or classified by the law as a state secret. The information law specifies types of information that cannot be classified as secret or confidential, including laws and government regulations, information on emergency situations, ecological data, public health, demographic factors, and documents from libraries and archives open to the public. Information classified as a state secret is regulated by the Law On State Secrets of 1993 and by a 1995 Presidential Decree setting out a list of information classified as state secrets. According to articles 13 and 24 of the Law on Information, a refusal to provide access to open information or the groundless classification of information as state secret or confidential can be contested in ... [Read More]
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