Rail workers, MEPs, and trade unions rallied on Tuesday (28 February) in Brussels to stop the EU Commission's attempt to further privatise public transport across the EU. "No to Privatisation" was the most-common shout during the afternoon under the banners of around 10 national trade unions gathered in front of the European Parliament to demand "respect for EU democracy" and "affordable public services" for all citizens.
Source: EU Observer
A Belarusian court has sentenced human rights defender, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski to ten years of imprisonment in a strict-regime penal colony, correspondent for Russia’s state news agency TASS reports. The prosecutor previously requested 12 years in a colony for Bialiatski. The Viasna Human Rights Centre states that the other defendants, human rights defenders Valentin Stefanovich and Vladimir Labkovich, have been sentenced to nine and seven years behind bars respectively.
Source: Novaya Gazeta EU
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has declared Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption NGO, “undesirable” in the country, the agency reported. The undesirable status bans organisations from working in Russia and shuts down Russians branches of international NGOs and NPOs. The Prosecutor General’s Office stressed that Transparency International is run by “citizens of foreign countries”.
Source: Novaya Gazeta EU