The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for January 2015

28.01.2015 Russian Court Rejects Bid To Close Rights Group Memorial

The Russian Supreme Court has rejected the Justice Ministry's request for the closure of Memorial, one of the country's most respected human rights groups.

28.01.2015 Monitoring of the situation with human rights in Belarus: October-December 2014

The aim of the monitoring is highlighting short-term tendencies in the spheres of human rights, social, political and economic situation in Belarus.

28.01.2015 Freedom House: Belarus is “worst of the worst” in freedom rating

Belarus is ranked in line with Sudan and China.

28.01.2015 Courts in Baranavichy and Salihorsk confirm bans on Human Rights Day pickets

The Salihorsk District Court has dismissed an appeal filed by local human rights activist Leanid Markhotka against a ban imposed by the district executive committee on a picket scheduled for the Human Rights Day, December 10. The case was considered by Judge Ala Trafimchuk.

28.01.2015 Brest activist fined for portraits of missed politicians

Activist Andrei Sharenda was sentenced to a fine of Br2.7 million. The activist himself informed charter97.org.

28.01.2015 Prison authorities ignore hunger strike by Yury Rubtsou

Political prisoner Yury Rubtsou, who is serving a sentence in special settlement No. 7 in the village of Kuplin, Pruzhany district, has been on a hunger strike since January 22. Nevertheless, the administration has not yet officially registered the protest in the prison’s medical facility.

27.01.2015 ICC/Ukraine: Escalation of violence confirms that concrete action is badly needed

The recent escalation of violence in East Ukraine only highlights the urgent need for Ukraine to fulfill its commitments and ratify the Rome Statute as well as recognize the International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction over crimes committed after February 2014, said FIDH and its partner organization in Ukraine, the Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) upon returning from an advocacy mission to Kyiv last week.

27.01.2015 Orsha rocker wins compensation for forced psychiatric treatment

Aliaksandr Mukhin, leader of the Baran-based the Doors fan club, has managed to protect his rights in the Vitsebsk Regional Court. He was able to prove that last year he was illegally detained and subjected to involuntary psychiatric treatment.

27.01.2015 Anastasiya Loika: Circuit courts not conducive to openness

After a series of circuit court hearings held at the police department of the Tsentralny district in Minsk, which caused much indignation, the official website of the Supreme Court published an official message providing “explanations regarding an incorrect media report”.

27.01.2015 UCP leader to stand trial for “Je suis Charlie” poster

The authorities demonstrate their fear of any rallies of solidarity, the politician believes.

27.01.2015 Human rights situation in 2014: Trends and evaluation

The situation of human rights during 2014 remained consistently poor with a tendency to deterioration at the end of the year. Human rights violations were of both systemic and systematic nature: basic civil and political rights were extremely restricted, there were no systemic changes in the field of human rights (at the legislative level and (or) at the level of practices).

26.01.2015 Political prisoner Statkevich accused of “avoiding community service”

The confinement regime for Mikalai Statkevich has not been changed. He wrote it to his wife Maryna Adamovich. The authorities of the Shklou prison think he “failed to choose a course of correction”, BelaPAN reports.

26.01.2015 Activist complains about offensive actions by police officers

Nina Bahinskaya, an activist who was detained on January 22 while honoring the memory of the people killed during the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv, has filed a complaint in the Tsentralny District Prosecutor’s Office to challenge the offensive actions of police officers who brought her to the police station.

26.01.2015 Opposition activist Maksim Viniarski goes on hunger strike in jail

As it became known to the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, Maksim Viniarski, an activist of the European Belarus opposition movement, on January 26 he began a hunger strike in protest against the sentence imposed by the court. On January 23, Judge Viktoryia Shabunia of the Tsentralny District Court sentenced the activist to an administrative arrest of 15 days for taking part in a rally in memory of the people killed during the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv.

26.01.2015 Ban on issuing bodies of death convicts legal, says MP

Liudmila Mikhalkova, Chair of the Standing Committee on Legislation of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, has replied to a petition of Volha Hrunova, the mother of Aliaksandr Hrunou, who was executed for the brutal murder of a student in Homel. Ms. Hrunova asked the Parliament to change the law that prohibits issuing bodies of executed prisoners for burial.