Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January-June 2007 At the last main hearing on 6 October 2006, Göksel Otan reiterated that Yekta Uzunoglu was not present. On 29 March 2007 Yekta Uzunoglu received a suspended sentence of two years with five years of probation. He appealed against this decision. AI urged the Czech authorities to investigate the alleged procedural violations of Yekta Uzunoglu’s fair trial rights including the rights to be tried without undue delay, to ensure Yekta Uzunoglu’s right to call and to question witnesses under the principle of equality of arms, and to an effective defence. AI also requested details on the investigations into the allegations of torture and ill-treatment during custody. Trafficking and migrants On 2 May, the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of parliament) passed an amendment to the Penal Code that will tighten sentences for people smuggling and illegal border crossing, in accordance with EU requirements. The bill would need to be approved by the Senate and signed by the President to become law, which had not happened by the end of the period under review. The amendment mainly tightens sentences for people smugglers who help irregular migrants on Czech territory for money. The law also defines a completely new crime - assisting in an illegal stay on the territory of the Czech Republic. ESTONIA Minority rights Discriminatory practices, including barriers to employment, continued towards the country’s linguistic minority, affecting some 420,000 people, approximately 30 per cent of the population. In February, the legal status of the Language Inspectorate, a state agency charged with overseeing the implementation of the Language Law, was enhanced, effectively making it harder for persons who have been fined or reprimanded by the Language Inspectorate Amnesty International 43 to challenge the practices of the Language Inspectorate in court. The Language Inspectorate is allowed to do announced as well as unannounced visits to places of work to control that individuals have the language certificates and skills required for various types of jobs. An amendment to the Language Act made it possible to translate public signs and advertisements into a foreign language. Previously, all public signs, also in regions inhabited primarily by non-Estonian speakers, could be in Estonian only. Racism In June, the European Union (EU) sent a formal request to Estonia to implement the EU Racial Equality Directive (2000/43/E), which Estonia has so far failed to do. FRANCE Right to housing On 22 February the National Assembly adopted a bill presented by the Minister for Housing and Social Cohesion, Jean-Louis Borloo, with the stated aim of creating a legally enforceable (“droit opposable”) right to housing. The bill had already been approved, on 1 February, by the Senate. The bill aimed to guarantee the right to “decent” accommodation (“Le droit à un logement décent”) to anybody who is legally resident in the country, and who is unable to access such accommodation, or to remain in it, without support (“toute personne qui, résidant sur le territoire français de façon régulière et dans des conditions de permanence […], n'est pas en mesure d'y accéder par ses propres moyens ou de s'y maintenir”). To that end the bill creates, by 1 January 2008, an ‘arbitration commission’ (“commission de médiation”) in every region (département) of the country, which will assess and prioritize complaints from individuals who allege that their right to AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007