captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> hello, we're with you for another edition of "european journal" from dw tv in brussels. this year after europe's court of human rights criticized germany, we see whether lessons can be learned from the swiss penal system. and also this week, poland prepares for the beatification of its very own people's pope. two years after the earthquake, how the italian city of l'aquila feels abandoned. and from russia, the big spring clean, lenin style. on may 1, the late pope john

ul ii is to be btified in rome, the last step towards saint hood. as you can imagine, john paul's home country of poland where 90% of people claim to be catholic is buzzing with papal fever. it's hoped that this great honor will stir new pride in the catholic church. the christmas tree was still standing in warsaw's old city when the news arrived from rome. pope john paul ii would be beatified on may 1. everyone rushed on to the streets to thank pope benedict. the first polish pope will finally receive one of the vatican's highest honors. still for many poles, this is just the first step. they want him not only to be beatified, but canonized, too. poland has been preparing for the big day ever since. many poles will be traveling to rome. those who can't are praying for him or commemorating him in their own way.

a mobile museum has been established to help honor the pontiff. thisruck carring jn paul ii's memorabilia has been touring poland since early april. the poles enjoy looking at what once belonged to him. what he once touched touches them. >> he's being beatified. on may 1, the world will remember the great pope who was polish. there aren't many great poles. i thought a long time about who you could compare him to. the only other pole i could think of is chopin. >> here where everything began, this is the birthplace of john paul ii. it is tucked away if the foothills of the car peyton yans, 50 miles southwest of krakov. the former pope is on hand at every mass, sitting in his armchair in front of the altar. >> we're excited about the

beatify -- beatification. we're going on a pilgrimage. those who can't come will watch the event on big screens. >> here where john paul ii once lay in his cradle, the love for the pope runs especially deep. he grew up in their midst as one of them, and they still call him father watilla. >> i still remember it as if it were yesterday. the pope confirmed me. i'm so happy, so overjoyed. >> the john paul scepter is being built near krakov. the cardinal launched the project. funded by donations from all over the world, the center is still a huge construction site. but the big church is slated to be completed in june.

this is what the altar will look like. a vile of the pope's blood taken from him in the hospital shortly before he died will be enclosed in the wall as a relic. >> i'm sure this holy site will become famous. i hope it might even become a second lords. >> for years, poland's catholic church has been shifting focus back to the saints and their relics. a few years ago, the village priest in southern poland started exhibiting a collection of relics in the town's church. now it's famous throughout the country and poles come to see more than 100 items. like hair from the holy nun. poland voted the father priest of the year for his dedication. his greatest wish now is to get a relic from pope john paul ii. he brushes off criticism of his passion for collecting.2

>> when i bought the first relics, priests in nearby churches were skeptical. now they're looking for some for their churches, too. some people say relics are outdated, but suddenly they've become modern again. and the point is not collecting them. the point is that relics can transform people. >> as may 1 approaches, more than 600 busts of john paul haveeen set upn poland. criticism of the church continues to grow, too. >> the pope is becoming the third element of the trinity, alongside god and jesus. like santa claus used to be in the ukraine. everyone sayayfinally we have a great pole. they play the nationalist card, and he's the answer to everything. you can be a bad catholic, but if you pray just once to the hope, everything is pardoned. they hide behind his icon.

>> poland is feverishly awaiting may 1. in the churches, the saints are all adorned with a halo. and that's planned for the portrait of pope john paul ii as well. after he's beatified. an artist has already been hired to paint it. penal systems all over europe struggle with the issue of how to deal with violent offenders once their prison sentence is over. germanhas just been criticized by the european court human rights for its system of preventative detention. the case in question, a section offender incarcerated for 17 years even though his original sentence was only a fraction of that. now germany is looking at interest at how switzerland deals with offenders who is considered could pose a danger to society. >> he unt even 20 years old when he beat a woman to the ground

while drunk. she escaped. he went to prison for two years. police treated it as an attempted robbery. >> a few years later, he was once more on the verge of carrying out an attack that would have put him in preventative detention for the rest of his life. >> but it didn't happen, thanks

to an early psychological diagnosis. the therapist classified him as a potential sex offender, and after that, he was under constant observation. >> we provide a service specializing in the treatment of violent criminals and sex offenders who are likely to commit crimes again. we are currently treating 250 people and the treatment is specifically aimed at reducing the risk. >> frank has introduced new methods aimed at assessing the level of risks posed by potentially dangerous criminals and has written a computer program to that end. in zurich, psychologists and the

justice system work together to deal with the problem. the approach dates back to the 30th of october, 1993. the body of a 20-year-old was found in a wood. she had been brutally murdered by a sex killer on temporary release from prison. the body was found only a few hundred meters from her parents' home. >> yes, this is the place, here in the forest. i told them that if my daughter goes off to a path finder meeting and doesn't come home, then something is wrong. she was very responsible. and on sunday we started to search with about 100 people and we found her. >> pascal's mother later sued the judicial authorities who had

released a murderer from prison. i didn't understand. and i kept asking why they had let him out. i wanted to know and i didn't give up asking. >> the murder shocked switser -- itzerland. near twoecades later, dangerous criminals are very rarely released from detention there. that's partly because views of psychologists are taken seriously. psychologists now get early access to convicts, assess them more often and over longer periods. some convicts complain the psychologists have replaced the judges. >> it's a fact that psychologists are becoming more and more powerful every year. that's bad. i say the man who runs the workshop knows the prisoners

better than some shrink with his table lamp. >> the judge has to evaluate a decision he's been given. he needs to know how it functions and be able to tell a well-written psychological report from a bad one and know what additional information to ask for. >> the model has proven its efficiency. its implementation has seen a dramatic fall in reoffending among the few violent criminals and sex offenders who have been released. >> this man is not considered likely to reoffend. he's kept out of trouble for decades. but every day he still has to face down his demons.

>> in april 2009, a massive earthquake all but destroyed the italian town of l'aquila in italy. 300 people died, 120,000 lost their homes. just weeks afterwards, the italian premier silvio berlusconi made a big show of staging a g8 summit there, his way of supposedly focusing the eyes of the world on the disaster. but despite this great political gesture, two years later, the people of l'aquila say they feel forgotten. >> their house was reduced to a pile of rubble. these days the members othe alpine club in the village of the province of l'aquila meet up in the local pizzeria to sing traditional songs. felipe joined the group a year ago.

he comes from central l'aquila and was made homeless by the earthquake in 2009. he was rehoused. >> only a magician would be able to rebuild l'aquila in a couple of years. >>wo years after disaster stck, the center of l'aquila is still largely barricaded off. many houses are still shored up with the makeshift wooden and steal stilts put into place as a temporary measure. the reconstruction effort is ongoing and 1.7 billion euros have already been invested. prime minister silvio berlusconi has promised that l'aquila should be back to normal within 10 years. the government has even appointed a number of commissioners to coordinate the work and ensure deadlines are met. but progress is impeded by excessive red tape, inefficiency, and incompetence. problems some might see as typically italian, including the mayor of l'aquila.

he resigned in frustration only to return to withdraw his resignation again a bit later. >> i have to apply to the commissioners to begin reconstruction on two schools, and their reply, they told me i had to justify why the schools are needed. at makes me wonder, why exactly do we need these commissioners? >> this housing estate was build for the 600 people who, like felipeo, were made hopeless. -- homeless. he initially went to stay with relatives in rome. then then the government put him up in a hotel near the sea. but it was 100 kilometers away from his office. he works for l'aquila city council and has to take the bus there every day and then back again in the evening. he hopes he'll eventually be able to move back to the center of l'aquila. >> i've been waiting nearly two

years for a building permit. how on earth do they think they'll ever be able to rebuild a whole city? >> many have hung their old keys on this fence, a symbol of their longing to return home. >> nothing has changed in two years. it looks the same now as it did then. >> it's unbelievable. when i think what it used to look like here, over there it actually looks worse. it's complete chaos. >> but in the small pizzeria, the owners are more optimistic. they're benefiting from the neighborhood's 600 new residents. >> we've got more work and we're building a new house. >> they were well-positioned to build themselves temporary accommodations because they own a piece of land. they say their family is all

right. they know they can move into eir new house soon. they'll open a pizzeria on the ground floor, says marco. remembering the disaster and its victims and at the same time a violent protest against the government and the prime minister's empty promises. >> as far as i'm concerned, the government can come and do all the work itself. last year, they forgot about us completely. now and then, my friends and i say, let'sot bother anymore. let's stop talking about it. it's like a mosquito fight that you can't stop scratching. we'll never stop. we probably won't for the rest of our lives. >> he's given up hope of ever moving back into his own house, like many others in l'aquila.

>> as land roots are cut off to the embattled rebels in libya, the only rte iby sea, the mediterranean island of mowl that, the center of operations. it's a risky operation for those involved and a complicated operation as mowlton with the gaddafi regime. already will the whole mission be canceled at the last minute? volunteers begin unloading the ship because the korean crew haven't shown up. they think the operation is too dangerous. 100 tons of food and medicines from all over the world is stacked on the docks. 400 kilometers to the south, desperate people are waiting for these supplies. but the organizers have a backup plan. instead of sending the original boat, a smaller vessel will put out to sea.

two of the three crew members are libyan. one comes from miss ra that and >> when we start these trips, we know about the risk and we know that everybody if he is afraid of the risk, our people in mizrata, they are staying without food, without anything. >> so the volunteers begin loading the boat with medical equipment and sacks of food. reports keep coming in on the weather and the situation in mizrata. most of the news is bad. the weather is inclement and rockets are hitting the city's harbor. and some people there have been killed. it's too late and too risky to leave. departure is postponed until morning. the next day, journalists and a doctor board the vessel. again and again, we hear that the ship will set off in a few hours.

>> we'll have a window of maybe an hour or two or three hours to which we can go in. everybody will disembark very quickly. >> he says his aid is solely humanitarian and completely neutral. 10 other libyans work with him. they meet regularly in this center to prepare their activities. >> from toronto, ontario, canada. i came here with the three doctors. >> i brought medical supplies with me, about $400,000 worth of medical splice. >> discussion begins again on whether to put out to sea today. thgs are sti critical. >> if there's an attack on the bakery, people kill for bread.

>> the libyan network functions and in contrast to the early days of the fighting, no authorities interfere with the aid workers. maybe it's an expression of a guilty conscience. >> many saga da if i for what he really was, butere persuaded to accept him because of the business relationship and because of the fact that for many years, especially in the 1970's, he gave moulta a great deal of money. >> the ship seems ready to sail soon. a customs official checks the documents. and then another two hours pass while problems with the motor are dealt with. the aid shipment finally sets off. this evening, a red cross ship will enter the harbor after fleeing mizrata where fighting has broken out again. at least the red cross workers unloaded their ship before seeking safety.

>> we're in e situation at the center is not that good. there are snipers around. they are shooting with every object that's moving. honestly, it wasn't safe for us as red cross staff. >> the news from the ship is that everything has gone well so far and that the vital cargo has been turned over to the libyan red cress ent. -- crescent. >> there's not a lot left over fr lenin russia ich is still celebrated, but one tradition does li on, the annual public spring clean. in soviet times, going out into public places to help clean up after winter was imposed by the communist party. these days, people are volunteers and enjoy being part of this community event. >> spring cleaning in moscow.

when the sun comes out, people come to the streets to beautify their city. early on saturday morning, about 50 school children have gathered in a district on the outskirts of moscow. still a bit sleepy, they proceed to a nearby park to collect garbage. more or less voluntarily. >> my mother made me. i didn't want to do it. >> we're helping nature by removing the garbage. >> y rhee that supervises the cleanup crew. she thinks the traditional spring cleaning is a good thing. >> a day like this is important. the children learn that they themselves can play a role in making their neighborhood more attractive. and it also keeps the city

cleaner. >> most of the people here have no idea that the traditional cleanup day was introduced in 1919 by the soviet revolutionary lenini many have no idea who lenin was. >> lenin was a friend. they invented this cleaning day together. >> mama, look up lenin in wikipedia. oh, sorry, at the moment we have no internet access. >> the soviet union may be history, but lenin's voluntary work stint on saturday lives on. a park on the eastern side of moscow. the women wielding shovels ear are from the municipal administration. one of them, irena, experienced her first sbotnik as a student.

>> i think there was more enthusiasm back then. it was spontaneous. we cleaned up the neighborhood. no one was pressured to help, but times changed. today people are different, too. >> in today's moscow, guest workers from central asia keep the parks and streets clean. so what's the point of continuing the collective spring cleaning? >> working together like this is bonding. at the office, you can't tell which colleagues have a sense of community, but here you see it. >> that can't be taken for granted in today's moscow. a fancy car often counts for more than community spirit. maybe that's precisely why russia's current leaders support sbotnik. a celebration in central moscow, young and old are planting trees together. the president's economic advisor who likes to promote

modernization has also come. >> there is a lot to be said for tradition. beautifying your city is a wonderful thing. >> many students agree and participate in the event. they're demonstrating community spirit and patriotism. >> it's good for our nation. good for patriotism, which russia needs today. >> the sbotnik is more than 90 years old and has outlived lenin and the soviet union and it isn't going out of fashion in the russia of today either. >> and that's it from "european journal" for another week. hope you can join us next time. but for me and everyone here in

brussels, goodbye.