Neo-Nazis have taken over the entire village of Jamel in Germany's northeastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. "The police, the authorities, no one dares to intervene," Uwe Wandel, mayor of the district that includes the village, told Der Spiegel. Jamel is home to Sven Kruger, a leader of the ultra-right National Democratic Party, an openly Hitler-nostalgist outfit that has had seats in the state parliament since 2006. Kruger and his allies have bought up nearly the whole village and driven others out, the magazine reports. Horst Lohmeyer, one of the few residents to oppose the extremists, said, "They see Jamel as a 'nationally liberated zone'"—meaning a place foreigners and anti-fascists must fear to tread. (UPI, Jan. 3)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Jan. 10 for the release of opposition candidates, journalists and others detained in Belarus during the crackdown on protests following the Dec. 19 election. Police beat and arrested protesters and rounded up opposition candidates after the vote, which officially handed a fourth term to President Alexander Lukashenko. As of last week, some 200 of the estimated 650 detainees were still being held. (Reuters, Jan. 10)

From Charter 97, Minsk, Jan. 7:

"European Belarus" demands immediate release of all political prisoners
"European Belarus" civil campaign demands the international community to impose the harshest political and economic sanctions against the usurper, and unconditional immediate release of all political prisoners. It was stated on January 5 at a press-conference in Warsaw by "European Belarus" coordinator Zmitser Barodka.

The New York Times on Jan. 6 ran a story, "US Sends Warning to People Named in Cable Leaks," finally giving some play to a critical issue in the WikiLeaks affair that neither supporters nor detractors of Julian Assange have been quick to examine: the impact of the leaks on dissidents under authoritarian regimes. But the story is more noteworthy for what it omits than what it reports:

Italian authorities say an anarchist cell has claimed responsibility for parcel bomb attacks on the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome, in which two staff members were injured Dec. 23. A note found at at the scene of the Chilean embassy blast was signed by the "Lambros Fountas Cell" of the Informal Federation of Anarchy (FAI). Lambros Fountas was a Greek anarchist killed in a shoot-out with Athens police in March. "We have decided to make our voice heard with words and deeds," the note read. "We will destroy the dominant system, long live FAI, long live anarchy."

From Human Rights Watch, Oct. 28:

Roma and related minority groups deported from Western Europe to Kosovo face discrimination and severe deprivation amounting to human rights abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

A group of 15 Spanish police officers went on trial Oct. 26 in Guipúzcoa Provincial Court, in the northern Basque country, for the torture of two ETA activists. The alleged victims, Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola, were convicted and sentenced to 1,040 years in prison in the 2006 Madrid airport bombing that killed two people. Portu and Sarasola claim police mistreated them physically and psychologically. The Guardia Civil police force maintains the two were trying to escape, and that limited use of force was necessary. Prosecutors seek two to three years in prison for the accused officers.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced Oct. 11 that police have arrested Mal Rt [Reuters backgrounder] CEO Zoltan Bakonyi on criminal negligence charges for the company's role in last week's Akja chemical spill. Orban also announced an emergency law that was easily passed allowing the government to take control of Mal Rt, which owned the plant from which the spill originated. The spill occurred Oct. 4 when one of the plant's reservoirs cracked, releasing nearly 200 million gallons of toxic sludge, killing eight people, injuring hundreds more and causing environmental damage that some fear could take years to clean up. Police initiated their criminal investigation last week. If convicted, Bakonyi faces up to 11 years in prison.