“Viasna”: central office and property confiscated
At
10 a.m. the office in Nezalezhnasts Street, 78a-48 in Minsk was
attended by court marshals, policemen, a cameraman in plain clothes,
representatives of public utilities and two witnesses.
The
court marshals sealed the apartment. We should remind that for the
last 12 years assistance there has been rendered assistance to the
repressed and press conferences and other human rights events have
been held.
Human rights defenders believe that in such a way
the Belarusian authorities “marked
the first anniversary of the
delivery of sentence to the head of “Viasna”, Ales Bialiatski. On
24 November 2012 he was sentenced to 4.5 years of imprisonment with
confiscation of property for alleged large-scale tax evasion.
Several minutes before the confiscation of the office and
assets, the deputy head of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”
Valiantsin Stefanovich voiced the statement adopted by the
organization's Council.
There it is stated that the loss of
the office is a serious blow for “Viasna”, but it will not stop
its human rights activities. The organization will continue helping
those whose rights are violated and monitoring the overall situation
of human rights in Belarus.
Not only “Viasna” members, but
also colleagues and representatives of friendly organizations came to
bid farewell to the office, including Aliaksandr Milinkevich
(Movement “For Freedom”), Ina Kulei (the Committee to Protect the
Repressed “Solidarity”), Andrei Aliaksandrau (the Belarusian
Association of Journalists), Andrei Bandarenka (“Platform”),
Raisa Mikhailouskaya (“the Center for Human Rights”), AlehVolchak
(“Legal Assistance to Population”).