The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for May 2019

31.05.2019 Picks of the week

Prosecutor General’s Office launches probe into police raids in Roma houses; courts continue to punish illegal protesters; activists stage monstration in Mahilioŭ, first allowed protest in 7 years

27.05.2019 How Belarus fails its homeless

Belarus is the host of next month’s European Games. This is bad news for the country’s many homeless. Already facing a hostile bureaucracy and lacking decent shelters, the homeless will be targeted for ‘street cleaning’ by the authorities.

24.05.2019 Picks of the week

Belarusian author facing fine over short story published in 2010; ex-prisoner of conscience Dzmitry Paliyenka fined in absentia while in pre-trial detention; human rights activists seek justice in Roma raids in Mahilioŭ

23.05.2019 We can see dialogue beginning, UNHRC expert says

On May 23, the Minsk-based Territory of Rights event space hosted a follow-up meeting on the concluding observations adopted by the UN Human Rights Committee after the consideration of Belarus’s fifth periodic report in October 2018.

20.05.2019 Media Under Attack as European Games Loom

Olympic Officials Should Ensure Reporters’ Safety, Human Rights Watch says

17.05.2019 PACE members denounce judgment confirming death sentence of Aliaksandr Asipovich

Titus Corlatean (Romania, SOC), General Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the abolition of the death penalty, and Ria Oomen-Ruijten (Netherlands, EPP / CD), Chairperson of the Political Affairs Committee, denounced the judgment of 14 May of the Supreme Court of Belarus confirming the death sentence of Aliaksandr Asipovich, pronounced by the Regional Court of Mahiliou on 9 January.

17.05.2019 Human rights defenders: Crime has no nationality

On May 16, police officers raided dozens of Roma houses in Mahilioŭ, after a local road policeman, Yauhen Patapovich, was abducted and murdered outside the city.

16.05.2019 Statement on the arrest and forced expulsion of Ismail Nalgiev

On May 8, 2019, Ismail Nalgiev, a Russian activist, blogger and active participant in the protests against the agreement on the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia, was arrested by Belarusian police at the Minsk national airport.

14.05.2019 Supreme Court confirms death sentence for Aliaksandr Asipovich

The Supreme Court of Belarus has upheld the death verdict imposed on Aliaksandr Asipovich for a double murder committed in Babrujsk in July 2018.

11.05.2019 Picks of the week

Ingush blogger Ismail Nalgiev expelled from Belarus; ex-political prisoner Dzmitry Paliyenka sent back to pre-trial prison after mental examination; REP leader to enjoy "milder" sentence conditions

10.05.2019 Ingush blogger Ismail Nalgiev faces expulsion from Belarus without trial

The authorities have ordered the extra-judicial deportation of Russian critical blogger Ismail Nalgiev after his arrest in the Minsk airport on May 8, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said quoting Nalgiev’s lawyer.

04.05.2019 Ensure exercise of freedom of peaceful assembly!

Joint statement by human rights organizations Minsk, May 3, 2019

03.05.2019 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: April 2019

April was marked by a certain deterioration of the overall human rights situation in the country and the negative trends that had emerged in March were further developed. At the same time, the authorities were still trying to avoid the use of most severe forms of repression against civil society and the political opposition.