The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for 7 Oct 2013

07.10.2013 Human rights defender Uladzimir Malei dedicated his marathon to Ales Bialiatski (photos)

Malaryta human rights defender Uladzimir Malei dedicated a ten-kilometer marathon to the freedom of the head of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Ales Bialiatski. He came to the 30th jubilee marathon which took place in Malaryta wearing a T-shirt with a portrait of Ales Bialiatski and the inscription “Freedom to Bialiatski!” Uladzimir Malei took the third prize place in his age group.

07.10.2013 Vitsebsk: Barys Khamaida detained again

Vitsebsk activist, distributor of independent press Barys Khamaida was taken to the Chyhunachny District Police Department of Vitsebsk, allegedly for unauthorized picketing. However, he was released without getting any charges.

07.10.2013 Trial on Labkovich's case postponed again

On 7 October at the Savetski District Court of Minsk the member of the Council of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Uladzimir Labkovich was informed that the trial would take place tomorrow and start at 9 a.m. This is already the fourth postponement of the trial.

07.10.2013 Ales Bialiatski to write memoirs about Viktar Ivashkevich

Natallia Pinchuk, the wife of the political prisoner, head of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" Ales Bialiatski , had a telephone talk with her husband. Bialiatski is currently serving 4.5 years of imprisonment in Babruisk penitentiary No. 2. According to Natallia Pinchuk, her husband found about the death of his close friend and colleague Viktar Ivashkevich from the newspapers.

07.10.2013 Khotsimsk: another application for a picket against foreign military airbases

Last week Khotsimsk activists of the Belarusian Popular Front filed another appeal to the Khotsimsk District Executive Committee to hold a picket against the deployment of the foreign military airbases on the territory of Belarus.

07.10.2013 Priest Aliaksandr Shramko: “Death penalty contradicts the Gospel”

The Orthodox priest Aliaksandr Shramko, who serves in the church of St. Archangel Michael in the Sukharava neighbourhood in Minsk, reflects on the reasons to abolish the death penalty.

07.10.2013 “Death penalty. Indifference kills”

“No enemy is worse than indifference! All mischief takes place with the tacit consent of the indifferent."

07.10.2013 “Last Dawn” as an opportunity to share one's position on the death penalty

The rock concert “Last Dawn”, dedicated to the issue of the use of the death penalty in Belarus, was held on 5 October in Bialystok. Thanks to the online broadcasting, it was wathced by thousands of Belarusians, regardless the border between Poland and Belarus, the "black lists" of the musicians who took part in the concert, and a ban on the discussion of the topic of the death penalty in the public space in Belarus.

07.10.2013 Application for a picket against the death penalty filed in Vitsebsk

The application was filed to the Chyhunachny District Executive Committee of Vitsebsk by the human rights defender Leanid Svetsik who intends to hold the picket to hold a discussion with Vitsebskers concerning the ongoing use of the death penalty in Belarus.