The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for 25 Feb 2014

25.02.2014 Case files of Belarusian dissident Mikhail Kukabaka finally declassified

Seven and a half years of walking around the courts and numerous requests to various government agencies finally brought results, thanks to the tenacity of the famous Belarusian dissident, who has been repeatedly subjected to punitive psychiatry. This month Mikhail Kukabaka received a message stating that the materials of a number of forensic psychiatric examinations of 1970 and of subsequent years had been declassified.

25.02.2014 20 constituencies uncontested in Hrodna

An officially published list of registered candidates for the Hrodna City Council says only 41 candidates were registered by the City Election Commission in a total of 30 electoral districts of the city. 20 constituencies will be uncontested, voting in these districts loses all meaning.

25.02.2014 Babruisk: Registration denied to Tell the Truth members only?

Official sources are in no hurry to inform the residents of Babruisk on the election campaign. From the outset, information is issues in small portions, and despite the fact that the registration of candidates for deputies to the City Council finished on February 21, their names yet remain a mystery.

25.02.2014 Prosecutor's Office forwards complaint in national flag case to court

Viktar Sharshun complained about the actions of the police, but the prosecutors forwarded his complaint to the Tsentralny District Court of Minsk. This is reported in a response received by Mr. Sharshun from the District Deputy Prosecutor M. Khortau.

25.02.2014 Salihorsk activist appeals ban on Human Rights Day picket

Uladzimir Shyla, a civil society activist of the town of Salihorsk, is appealing against a ban imposed by the district executive committee on a picket expected to be staged on Human Rights Day, December 10. A complaint was sent to the Minsk Regional Court.

25.02.2014 Opposition activists sentenced to 10 days of arrest

On February 22, two youth opposition activists, Mikalai Dzemidzenka and Zmitser Kremianetski, were detained at the Ukrainian border and denied entry to Ukraine for 5 years. After that, there appeared Belarusian police, who detained the guys for allegedly using foul language.

25.02.2014 Bialynichy police threat with responsibility for riots during elections

The website of the Bialynichy District Executive Committee posted a document in the category “Elections 2014” signed by the police department chief Colonel Yury Simanau.

25.02.2014 Member of independent trade union loses job in Babruisk

Aliaksandr Mikitka, member of the Free Trade Union’s office at the Babruisk-based Plant of Tractor Parts and Assemblies, was notified that his labor contract had expired and the management no longer wished to see him in the enterprise. Earlier this month, the activist won a lawsuit against his employer over a failure to pay bonuses.

25.02.2014 Belarusian opposition activist Maksim Viniarski detained in Moscow

Belarusian opposition activist Maksim Viniarski was detained during mass arrests in Moscow, where a trial of the “Bolotnaya case” protesters was continued yesterday (mass protests in Moscow in May 2012). As he said on Facebook, he was “detained near the court building”.