Actions in support of Ales Bialiatski

On 5 September actions of solidarity with the arrested head of the Human Rights Center Viasna Ales Bialiatski took place near the Embassies of Belarus in Stockholm, Moscow, Kyiv, Vilnius, Yerevan and other cities.

In Stockholm the picketers held posters with the inscription Freedom to Ales Bialiatski in Belarusian and Swedish. Martin Uggla, Chair of the human rights initiative Östgruppen delivered a speech, after which the action participants wanted to pass the Belarusian Ambassador Andrei Hrynkevich a letter with the demands to release Bialiatski. However, the Embassy refused to accept the letter, that's why it was thrown into the postbox.

The picket in Moscow wasn't authorized by the local authorities. That's why the organizers held a series of one-man pickets, replacing one another every 5 minutes. They collected signatures under an address to the Belarusian Ambassador Vasil Dauhaliou. In an hour human rights defender Yuri Jibladze passed the address and the signatures to the Belarusian Embassy.

7 people took part in the action in Yerevan. Human rights defender Michael Danielyan passed the address with the demand to release Ales Bialiatski to the first secretary of the Belarusian Embassy, Mr. Harelka.

In Lithuania, street actions with less than 10 participants don't require preliminary agreement of the authorities. That's why 9 people took part in the picket in support of Ales Bialiatski in Vilnius.