🇹🇷 On 26 September 2026, at the Ankara headquarters of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an event took place that the party itself, on its official account, called a “historic embrace and meeting”. MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, the closest political ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, personally brought together at one table Burhanettin Saral, representing…

🇩🇪 On 17 September 2026 the Baltic news outlet BB.LV, in an item republished by the Inbox.eu news feed, reported that racketeering was “making a comeback” in Germany. Referring to the German Press Agency (dpa) and Deutsche Welle, it described a wave of extortion gaining strength in the German regions, illustrated it with a series…

🇪🇺 1. The applicant alleges that he belonged to the lowest caste of “pariahs” in the informal hierarchy that, according to him, prevails in Moldovan prisons, and that on account of that status he was subjected to restrictions, humiliations and forced labour. The application raises questions primarily under Articles 3, 4 and 14 of the…

🇸🇻 On 21 April 2026, a Salvadoran court began the mass trial of over 400 alleged leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha criminal gang, commonly known as MS-13, in a case involving more than 47,000 crimes prosecutors say were committed between 2012 and 2022. The Tribunal Sexto contra el Crimen Organizado initiated what prosecutors described as…

🇱🇻 I had the great honour and privilege of speaking with staff from the Prison Service of the Republic of Latvia. Words can hardly capture my gratitude — and genuine delight — at the warmth of what I encountered when I visited the newly established Training Centre for Prison Officers and met with so many…

🇪🇺 The case of Petrov v. The Republic of Moldova (Application No. 38066/18) concerns fundamental questions of human dignity, the prohibition of degrading treatment and the protection of prisoners from systematic abuse facilitated by informal prison hierarchies. The judgment, delivered by the European Court of Human Rights on 5 March 2026, addresses a phenomenon that…

🇮🇹 Benedetto Santapaola, one of Italy’s most feared and ruthless Mafia bosses, has died in prison at the age of 87. Widely believed to have orchestrated the assassination of one of Italy’s most celebrated anti-mafia prosecutors in 1992, “Nitto” Santapaola spent over three decades behind bars after being captured in 1993 following years as a…

🇲🇩 In early June 2025, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) carried out an ad hoc visit to Moldova, following its previous visit in December 2022. The central theme of this visit was informal prison hierarchies and prison subculture. MAIN CONCLUSIONS On the one hand, the Committee confirmed the previously identified systemic…

🇻🇪 More than 252 Venezuelans expelled to El Salvador under Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy suffered systematic and prolonged torture and abuse, including sexual assault, during their detention, according to a report published on Wednesday. The report, compiled jointly by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Cristosal – a group investigating violations in Central America –…

🇲🇽 Massive protests swept through Mexico City on Saturday, resulting in violent clashes that injured at least 120 people, including 100 police officers. The demonstrations, organized primarily by Gen Z youth groups, focused on escalating violent crime and dissatisfaction with President Claudia Sheinbaum’s handling of cartel violence. The Spark: Mayor’s Assassination The protests were catalyzed…