The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for October 2015

20.10.2015 Vaŭkavysk prosecutors in the dark about electoral laws, says local observer

Following the election day procedures, Vital Huliak, an independent observer from the town of Vaŭkavysk, Hrodna region, has complained to the District Prosecutor's Office about alleged violations of electoral law, namely, violations of the procedure of vote counting at polling station No. 3.

20.10.2015 More people face charges over election day protest

More people have been formally charged with administrative offenses in connection with their involvement in a post-election protest held on October 11 in central Minsk.

19.10.2015 Hlusk: CEC rejects complaint by independent observer

Ihar Kiryn, an observer from the town of Hlusk, has received an answer from the Central Election Commission to his request asking to invalidate voting results at polling station No. 2.

19.10.2015 Brest observers fail to appeal electoral violations

A number of independent observers in Brest have received negative replies to their complaints about alleged violations of the election legislation, says Sviatlana Aliasiuk, representative of the regional office of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada). The complaints mainly concerned the vote counting procedure.

18.10.2015 Front Line Defenders condemns charges against Leanid Sudalenka

On 14 October 2015, human rights defender Mr Leanid Sudalenko was summoned to the Department of Customs Investigation of Gomel city and informed of the charges against him. He is accused of disobeying the lawful demands of persons in the execution of their duties.

16.10.2015 UN Human Rights Committee asks Belarus not to execute death convict

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has confirmed the registration of a communication submitted by Andrei Paluda, coordinator of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders Against the Death Penalty in Belarus”, on behalf of Siarhei Ivanou, who was sentenced to death earlier this year.

16.10.2015 Salihorsk prosecutors bounce report on rigged voter turnout

According to the Salihorsk District Prosecutor Aleh Audzei, falsification of voter turnout at polling station No. 24 should be addressed by the district election commission, refusing to take measures of prosecutor's response in this regard.

16.10.2015 Homieĺ human rights activists write to UN Special Rapporteur

The Homieĺ Center for Strategic Litigation has sent a message to Mr. Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. The activists report latest information related to the charges brought against local human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka for alleged resisting detention by customs officers.

15.10.2015 Critical blogger beaten by police, punished with heavy fine

Viktar Nikitsenka, a blogger writing for many independent media, including the Moscow office of Radio Liberty, Echo of Moscow and the website korrespondent.net, was detained and severely beaten by police officers on October 13 in Minsk.

15.10.2015 Supreme Court of Belarus Refused Registration Of BCD

On October 14 the Supreme Court of Belarus dismissed a complaint of the organizing committee for creation of the Belarusian Christian Democratic Party against the denial of the Justice Ministry to register the party.

15.10.2015 Sluck Prosecutor's Office ignores report on coercion to vote early

The Sluck District Prosecutor's Office has reportedly investigated allegations of coercion to vote early used towards the employees of the children's sanatorium Sluch, but found no grounds to intervene.

15.10.2015 Hlusk: Observer asks to invalidate voting results

Ihar Kiryn, an observer at polling station No. 2 in the town of Hlusk, has written to the head of the Central Election Commission Lidziya Yarmoshyna asking her invalidate voting results at the polling station.

15.10.2015 Brest: There were 1,200 voters on the list and 1,543 voted. Observers file complaint.

Liudmila and Aliaksandr Dzenisenkas, activists of the Belarusian Party of the Left "Fair World", have filed a complaint against violations of election legislation at polling station No. 41 in Brest, where they worked as observers.

15.10.2015 Elections in Homieĺ region: “CEC figures are simply ridiculous when compared with reality”

During the presidential election, everything should be boiling and we did not see much of the activity by candidates or their proxies in Homieĺ.

14.10.2015 Electoral process through the eyes of observers in Hrodna

Observation of both early voting and the main election day in Hrodna has clearly shown that voter turnout at the polling stations where the observers counted the voters throughout the five days of early voting was 20-23%, which is considerably less than the number of early voters at the polling stations where there were no independent observers.