The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for May 2014

29.05.2014 Mikalai Autukhovich not allowed to visit Minsk for medical examination

The police of Vaukavysk forbade the former political prisoner to leave the town for a medical examination.

29.05.2014 Mahiliou police unable to find online slanderers

Valery Karankevich, a civil society activist from the town of Khotsimsk, Mahiliou region, received on May 28 a response to his complaint to the head of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Mahiliou Regional Executive Committee, in which the activist requested to reopen an administrative case in connection with the alleged failure to identify persons who humiliate his honor and dignity in an Internet publication.

29.05.2014 Homel police “lose” items seized during detention of Young Front activists

Activists of the Young Front’s Homel branch have been unable to return their items seized by police during the arrest on February 22, when Andrei Tsianiuta and Stanislau Bula, as well as an activist of a coalition named “Our Alternative” Natallia Kryvashei, were detained by police during a rally in memory of the victims of Kyiv’s Maidan protests.

28.05.2014 Azerbaijani human rights defenders sentenced to long prison terms

A court in Baku has sentenced Anar Mammadli, chairman of EMDS (Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center) to 5.5 years of imprisonment. His deputy Bashir Suleymanli was sentenced to 3.5 years and arrested in the courtroom. The head of the Public Association for International Cooperation of Volunteers Elnur Mammadov was given the same term with 2 years on probation.

28.05.2014 Policeman visits opposition activist in Homyel over Ukrainian flag flying over his house

A police officer visited an opposition activist in Homyel at his home on Tuesday, after allegedly receiving complaints from people unhappy that Belarus’ historically national flag and Ukraine’s state flag were flying over his house.

28.05.2014 Minsk authorities ban BPF picket

The Minsk city executive committee has once again banned a picket of solidarity with the Ukrainian people organized by the Belarusian Popular Front. BPF deputy head Ihar Lialkou asked for permission to hold a rally on May 28 at the monument to Taras Shevchenko, BPF’s press-service reports.

28.05.2014 Belsat Journalist Fined for Work

Ales' Zaleuski, author and anchorman of several programs on Belsat TV, was fined by local court for 30 basic amounts under charges “unlawful production and dissemination of mass media products”.

27.05.2014 Famous Czechs join campaign against the death penalty in Belarus (VIDEO)

Karel Schwarzenberg, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, Oscar-winning screenwriter and actor Zdeněk Svěrák and gymnast, seven-time Olympic champion Věra Čáslavská have signed a petition of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus”.

27.05.2014 Mahiliou authorities ban picket against eviction of single mother

The authorities of Mahiliou have banned a picket that was expected to attract the attention of officials and local residents to the eviction of Ms. Iryna Ilyinskaya from the dormitory together with her two minor children. The picket was scheduled for June 1, International Children’s Day.

27.05.2014 Information Ministry Issues a Warning to Svobodnye Novosti Plus

The independent newspaper was accused of “inflicting harm to public interests and forming negative attitude to the Ice Hockey World Championship”.

27.05.2014 Homel activist Yury Rubtsou in hospital after 30 days of hunger strike

Opposition activist Yury Rubtsou has been released from the Homel-based detention center. After his release from a detention center in Minsk on May 21, where the activist had served 25 days of arrest imposed as a result of his involvement in the Chernobyl Way demonstration, he immediately returned to his native city of Homel.

26.05.2014 Young Front co-chair Andrei Tsianiuta expelled from university

Andrei Tsianiuta, co-chair of the Young Front opposition movement, has been expelled from the Frantsysk Skaryna Homel State University. The activist was studying law in his third year, Young Front’s press-service reports.

26.05.2014 National Bolshevik activist Aliaksandr Paliakou fined

On May 26, an administrative case of Aliaksandr Paliakou, an activist of the National Bolshevik movement, was considered in Minsk Tsentralny District Court.

26.05.2014 Viasna welcomes release of colleague Nabeel Rajab in Bahrain!

Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and Deputy Secretary General of FIDH got out of jail on May 24 after being detained for more than 600 days.

26.05.2014 Human rights results of Ice Hockey Championship: Repressive machine shows its power in action

Valiantsin Stefanovich, Deputy Chairman of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, in his interview for spring96.org, tells about the human rights results of the Ice Hockey World Championship, which was held in Minsk from 9 to 25 May.