The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for November 2012

27.11.2012 “Young Front” activist Pavel Siarhei threatened with criminal prosecution

One of the latest political draftees, “Young Front” activist Pavel Siarhei, who refuses to take the military oath because of his religious convictions, faces criminal prosecution.

27.11.2012 Human rights defenders call to sign the petition for the construction of a new polyclinic in Salihorsk

The Salihorsk human rights defenders have joined the campaign to protect the right to accessible medical assistance.

27.11.2012 Customs experts rule for destruction of “Belarus Press Foto” albums

41 photo albums of the previous contest Belarus Press Photo were confiscated on 12 November from the photographer Aliaksandr Vasiukovich at the Belarusian border point “Kamenny Loh”.

27.11.2012 Statkevich should not know his rights

According to statkevich.org, this seems to be the opinion of the administration of the Mahiliou colony #4 where the political prisoner Mikalai Statkevich is kept.

27.11.2012 Vitsebsk: Ales Marachkin's art exhibition banned

The exposition was supposed to open on 30 November in the exhibition hall of the Art and Graphic faculty of the Vitsebsk State University.

27.11.2012 Political prisoner Mikalai Dziadok can be transferred to a cell-type prison facility

The political prisoner was acknowledged a malicious violator and there will be a trial soon. The father of the political prisoner Aliaksandr Dziadok told the charter97.org web-site about that:

27.11.2012 Belarus evicts leading human rights organization

A leading Belarusian human rights NGO had its office confiscated in the capital Minsk on Monday, in what Amnesty International called a blatant violation of Belarus’ international human rights obligations.

27.11.2012 “Viasna”: central office and property confiscated

At 10 a.m. the office in Nezalezhnasts Street, 78a-48 in Minsk was attended by court marshals, policemen, a cameraman in plain clothes, representatives of public utilities and two witnesses.

26.11.2012 Statement by Human Rights Center “Viasna”

The imprisonment of the head of the organization, Ales Bialiatski, and confiscation of its office won't stop the activities of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”

24.11.2012 With the one year anniversary of the conviction of Ales Bialiatski, Human Rights Centre “Viasna” faces relentless harassment

Paris-Geneva, November 23, 2012 – One year after Ales Bialiatski’s conviction, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), remains gravely concerned about the arbitrary detention of the prominent human rights defender and the continuous harassment targeting members of the Human Rights Centre “Viasna” and other human rights defenders in the country.

23.11.2012 Brest: visually impaired fight for equality

Mrs. Iryna Yurenia, chair of the Brest regional organization "BelTIZ", believes that the rehabilitation of the visually impaired is a complex problem of the entire society, so the state and public institutions should pay more attention to the issue, as the problem affects 3,000 people in Brest alone.

23.11.2012 Human rights defender Barys Bukhel seeks to refute false information

Mahiliou human rights defender Barys Bukhel lodged a claim with head of the Internal Affairs Department of Mahiliou Region Baleika, following a publication on the Department’s website on 8 December 2011, entitled “Everyone, really, has the right to... Or what right does human rights defender Barys Bukhel protect?”

23.11.2012 Ales Byalyatski awarded with Petra Kelly Prize

Byalyatski's wife Natallya Pinchuk received the award on behalf of the political prisoner.

23.11.2012 Andrei Haidukou can’t receive medicines and letters in prison

Andrei Haidukou, resident of Navapolatsk, has been in the KGB detention center since November 8, facing criminal charges "for treason to the state through intelligence activities." Andrei’s parents and friends cannot believe that he could be involved in spying, his detention in Vitsebsk being a total surprise to them.

22.11.2012 Viasna invites you!

At 10 a.m. November 26, the office and property of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” will be seized. The bailiffs are expected to seal up the doors of the NGO that has provided assistance to the repressed for 12 years, hosted press-conferences on key human rights issues and numerous human rights events. This is the authorities’ way to mark one year since the sentencing of Viasna’s leader Ales Bialiatski to 4.5 years of imprisonment on November 24, 2011.