The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for November 2018

30.11.2018 Picks of the week

One journalist remains charged in "BelTA case"; ex-political prisoner Dzmitry Paliyenka facing new judicial harassment; disabled priest wrongly detained in Minsk.

29.11.2018 EU, CoE, PACE, Amnesty International condemn executions in Belarus

Brussels and Strasbourg have released official comments on the recent execution of two death row prisoners in Belarus, Siamion Berazhnoy and Ihar Hershankou.

28.11.2018 Belarus executes two more prisoners

Death row prisoners Siamion Berazhnoy and Ihar Hershankou have been executed by shooting, according to information received from the prisoners' families.

27.11.2018 Investigators drop charges against more journalists in “BelTA case”

On November 26, the Investigative Committee stopped criminal proceedings against tut.by editor Uliyana Babayed and BelaPAN political analyst Tatsiana Karaviankova, after they covered financial losses to the government-owned BelTA news agency.

26.11.2018 Three days in Chechnya: mission of solidarity with Oyub Titiev

Last week, Chairman of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" Ales Bialiatski and human rights activist Siarhei Sys visited Chechnya to witness the trial of Oyub Titiev, head of Memorial’s Grozny branch, which has been underway for four months in the town of Shali. The human rights activist is accused of illegal possession of drugs and may be imprisoned to 10 years.

23.11.2018 BelTA case: two journalists discharged, tut.by chief editor faces graver charges

Pauliuk Bykouski, Deutsche Welle reporter in Belarus, has been exempted from criminal charges of illegal access to the closed news feed of the government-owned BelTA agency, and will be tried on administrative charges, instead. Criminal charges have also been dropped against Uladzislau Kuletski, editor of the realt.by website.

20.11.2018 “Stopping more brutal affronts and violations” in Belarus

Reflecting on his six years as UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus, as his tenure come to an end, Miklós Haraszti recalls “fighting an uphill battle” in the mandate, but how ultimately it has ensured international scrutiny of the human rights situation and provided a bulwark against some of the worst violations.

16.11.2018 Picks of the week

Political prisoner Mikhail Zhamchuzhny spends 270 days in lockup; police officers make human chain handcuffing arrested people to one another; UCP press-secretary faces deportation

16.11.2018 Observatory condemns harassment of Viasna activist Ales Burakou

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Belarus.

15.11.2018 Harassment of journalists breaks records in Belarus – nearly 100 fines so far this year

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Belarusian government’s international partners to react to the surge in its persecution of journalists, with nearly 100 fines imposed already this year on reporters working for exile media – an all-time record.

13.11.2018 IndustriALL: Unjust verdict against union leaders in Belarus upheld

The city court of Minsk decided on 09 November to uphold the guilty verdict against two trade union leaders in Belarus, which has been widely condemned as unjust.

12.11.2018 Viasna protests harassment of its activist in Mahilioŭ

Statement by the Human Rights Center “Viasna”

09.11.2018 Minsk City Court confirms sentence in trade union case

The Minsk City Court has upheld today the sentence of 4 years of restricted freedom earlier handed down to Henadz Fiadynich and Ihar Komlik, leaders of the trade union REP, on charges of tax evasion.

08.11.2018 Journalists involved in BelTA case face formal charges

Eight journalists working with the tut.by and belapan.by news websites have been officially charged with “unauthorized accesses to computer information” in what is known as the “BelTA case”, Belarusian Association of Journalists said.

06.11.2018 Swiss abolitionists ask Lukashenka to spare lives of death row prisoners in Belarus

L’ACAT-Suisse, a Switzerland-based human rights organization working to end torture and capital punishment, has sent a petition to President Lukashenka, asking him to commute the death sentences handed down to Aliaksandr Zhylnikau and Viachaslau Sukharko.