The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for November 2019

29.11.2019 Picks of the week

Protesters face charges in the aftermath of November 17 elections; BAJ criticizes state media over poor coverage of the campaign; critical blogger loses claim demanding compensation for "false charges"

28.11.2019 Sentence in REP trade union trial commuted after an amnesty

The terms of “restricted liberty” earlier imposed on Henadz Fiadynich and Ihar Komlik, leaders of the independent trade union REP, have been reduced by 12 months, following an amnesty bill passed by the parliament, praca-by.info said.

26.11.2019 Orange the World to End Violence against Women

November 25 was marked as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Viasna talked to Belarusian activists working with gender issues to ask them about ways of addressing problems of violence against women in Belarus.

22.11.2019 Picks of the week: Parliamentary elections in figures

The November 17 elections brought both predictable and quite unexpected results. Some of them are shocking, while others are absurd.

21.11.2019 EU, U.S. regret “no meaningful changes” in Belarus elections

The November 17 parliamentary elections were a “lost opportunity,” as the vote failed to fully meet international standards, the EU said in a statement released through the office of Maja Kocijancic, Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.

20.11.2019 OSCE/ODIHR: Curbs on freedoms and concerns over procedural integrity tarnish elections

MINSK, 18 November 2019 – Fundamental freedoms were disregarded and the integrity of the election process was not adequately safeguarded in the early parliamentary elections in Belarus even as the number of registered candidates increased, international observers concluded in a preliminary statement published today.

19.11.2019 Parliamentary elections 2019: Analytical report

Observation of the elections to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus is carried out by the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights Center “Viasna” in the framework of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”.

18.11.2019 Decline of political race and total fraud. Human rights activists sum up observation of parliamentary elections

The parliamentary elections were once again marred by gross violations of both Belarusian legislation and international standards, representatives of “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”, a nation-wide election observation coalition, said at a press conference in Minsk.

17.11.2019 2019 parliamentary elections: Report on early voting

The official turnout for early voting is reported at 35.77%, which is the record high for the parliamentary elections since 2008.

17.11.2019 Report on monitoring peaceful assembly on November 16 in Minsk

On November 16, Minsk hosted the second protest entitled "Meeting of Free People"

16.11.2019 2019 parliamentary elections: Report on election campaigning

Administrative resources were widely used to promote the pro-government candidates, while a number of non-affiliated and opposition candidates reported obstacles in concealing or providing false information about their campaigning activities, as well as censorship of their political advertising.

16.11.2019 Report on monitoring peaceful assembly on November 15 in Minsk

On November 15, a protest entitled “The meeting of free people” took place in Kastryčnickaja Square and Svabody Square.

14.11.2019 Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections announce press conference on results of monitoring parliamentary elections

The nation-wide domestic non-partisan election observation campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” will hold a press conference on the results of monitoring the elections of members of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the seventh convocation. The event will take place at 12 a.m., November 18 at Manastyrski Hotel in Minsk.

12.11.2019 Supreme Court confirms death penalty for Viktar Paulau

The Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence handed down to Viktar Paulau on July 30. The defendant was found guilty of double murder committed in December 2018.

11.11.2019 2019 parliamentary elections: Weekly report. November 4-9

observers of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” report the predominantly low-key character of the election campaign. There were ongoing cases of bans on broadcasting the campaign speeches of opposition candidates.