GPPAC Eastern Europe Calls for the Immediate Release of Ales Belyatski

On August 04, 2011, prominent human rights activist and President of the Human Rights Centre, Viasna, Mr. Ales Belyatski was arrested by police of the Department of Financial Investigation of the Committee of State Control. He was incriminated with violating part 2 of article 243 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus: “Concealing income of an exceptionally large volume”. Mr. Belyatski faces a possible sentence of seven years of prison plus property confiscation. GPPAC Eastern Europe calls for the immediate release of Mr. Belyatski, as well as the dismissal of all charges against him.

The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) Eastern European is a network of civil society organizations, and think tanks from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Romania and Bulgaria. Since 2003 they have been working on issues related to conflict prevention and transformation in the Eastern European region, cooperating with International Organisations, State Institutions, Community Based Organizations and well as Academia.

Currently Mr. Belyatski is being held in the jail on Volodarski street in Minsk. According to the law, the investigators have 10 days to present their charges against Mr.Belyatski, including whether to release him or keep him in custody.

Last June a group of human rights defenders was summoned to verify information about bank accounts of Mr. Belyatski in Lithuania. They were shown information about funds, received by Mr. Belyatski from various international human rights organizations and foundations. These funds were provided not for personal use, but for the support of human rights activities, including prisoners of conscience in the Republic of Belarus and their families. This information was obtained by Belarus authorities through an agreement between the two countries about cooperation in criminal, civil and family cases.

In this situation GPPAC Eastern Europe calls for:

The immediate release of Ales Belyatski and a the dismissal of all criminal charges against him.

The international community to apply all possible political and legal measures to pressure the government of Belarus to release Ales Belyatski as well as all other political prisoners, being held in the Republic of Belarus.

GPPAC Eastern Europe