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Judges who want to continue working in Poland’s Supreme Court can do so until the European Union’s top court rules on the legality of measures effectively allowing the government to choose the court’s staff, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. ECJ is assessing judicial reforms by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party that are seen by human rights and opposition groups as undermining democracy and judges’ independence.
Source: reuters.com

Abortions were temporarily banned in the Primorsky Territory, Yakutia and the Ryazan Region as part of the "Give me My Life!" campaign. For several years now it has been organized by the Foundation for Social and Cultural Initiatives led by Svetlana Medvedeva, the wife of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Source: meduza.io

The retirement age in the Netherlands is to be raised to 67 by 2021. Now a publication put out by the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute has sparked a debate on the subject. According to the report, people with lower qualifications should be able to retire earlier than the more highly educated.
Source: eurotopics.net

A woman has become the first person in Denmark to be charged with wearing a full-face veil in public, after a ban came into effect on August 1. The new law has provoked protests and criticism from human rights groups. It does not mention burkas and niqabs by name, but says "anyone who wears a garment that hides the face in public will be punished with a fine".
Source: bbc.co.uk

Polish President Andrzej Duda signed into law on Thursday a measure allowing the government to choose the next Supreme Court chief despite protesters claiming it violates judicial independence.
Source: euronews.com

Maria Motuznaya and Daniil Markin from Barnaul are charged for extremism and insult to the feelings of believers. In both cases the same people shared the information.
Source: meduza.io

Judges will no longer need to be consulted when doctors and relatives of patients in a vegetative or minimally conscious state agree life-support treatment should end.
Source: theguardian.com

European courts have repeatedly handed down sentences to sex offenders that the public considers too lenient. Commentators have focused recently on cases in Spain and Turkey. They call for the offenders to receive just punishment rather than being given lenient sentences on the grounds of extenuating circumstances.
Source: eurotopics.net

Russia will prosecute the perpetrators of torture in prisons, including the guards who appeared in the video where they beat the prisoner. Such promises were made on Thursday by Deputy Minister of Justice Mikhail Galperin at a meeting in the UN Committee against Torture.
Source: currenttime.tv

On July 20, Novaya Gazeta published a 10-minute video of the torture of prisoner Yevgeny Makarov in Yaroslavl colony No. 1. The video was filmed a year ago — on June 29, 2017 — on the DVR of one of the FSIN employees. The lawyer who published a videotape of torture had to flee Russia because of threats.
Source: meduza.io

It said Russia had violated five articles of the human rights convention in its arrest and conviction of Pussy Riot members in 2012. Separately, the ECHR also heavily criticised the investigation into journalist Anna Politkovskaya's murder.
Source: bbc.co.uk

From now on people over the age of 16 in Portugal can change their name and gender without a medical diagnosis certifying a gender identity disorder. However, up to the age of 18 they must present a medical report on their decision-making ability.
Source: eurotopics.net