Actions of solidarity held in many countries of the world
Thousands
of people around the world have joined the International Day of
Solidarity with Belarusian civil society. Human rights defenders,
civil society activists, politicians, artists and ordinary citizens
from 15 countries took part in solidarity actions on 4 August.
This is not an occasional date: 4 August marks the anniversary of the
arrest of the famous Belarusian human rights activist Ales
Bialiatski, the head of the Human Rights Center "Viasna"
and Vice-President of the International Federation of Human
Rights.
On this day in 2011, he was arrested and later
sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. Ales is serving his sentence in
prison in Babruisk, Belarus.
In 2012, this day was marked by
the mass actions in support of Ales Bialiatski and other political
prisoners, as well as civil society in Belarus, so it was decided to
declare 4 August the International Day of Solidarity.
According
to by.soli-day.org,
this year events were held in several cities in Poland, Ukraine,
Russia, Germany, as well as Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech
Republic, Great Britain, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan,
Armenia and the United States.
The day of solidarity received
a wide coverage in the media and a strong political support – 15
members of the European Parliament from different countries issued a
special statement, urging the Belarusian authorities to release Ales
Bialiatski and to respect the international commitments of the
country in the field of human rights protection. A statement was also
made by Miklos Haraszti – UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights in Belarus.
The Solidarity Day was supported
almost by all major international human rights and civic
organizations. Special materials and applications on this day
published the Human Rights House Network, Freedom House, CIVICUS
(World Alliance for Citizen Participation). The International
Federation for Human Rights acted as a partner of the Solidarity Day
and also announced a major international campaign in support of Ales.
Amnesty International has supported the campaign in Russia and
Ukraine.
On that day, public discussions on the situation of
Belarusian human rights defenders, the death penalty and the
development of civil society in the country were organized in many
cities. Special attention was paid to the case of Ales Bialiatski:
his photos could be seen everywhere and the activists collected
signatures under petitions for his release. During a number of the
actions all interested people were given an opportunity to sign
postcards to Ales Bialiatski.
Mass actions were held in the
centers of many European cities includingWarsaw, Prague and Berlin.
Their participants handed out leaflets
about Ales and other political prisoners and collected signatures in
his support.
On
5 August in
Vilnius a
protest action was held near the Belarusian Embassy. It's
participants passed to the embassy an appeal with the demand to
release Ales Bialiatski and other political prisoners and immediately
stop repression against Belarusian activists.
On
4 August in Moscow
there was held an exhibition of works of
Belarusian photographers, mostly devoted to various aspects of the
civil society, the presentation of the book
"Bialiatski's Case"
by writer and
journalist Valery Kalinouski
and a round table "Will Russia become
Belarus?" discussing
the parallels in the development of the civil society in the both
countries.
In
Zurich, an
action of solidarity was held by activists of the Navapolatsk public
association “Free Region” with the assistance of the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).
The
participants posted leaflets with the addresses of 12 political
prisoners and two posters with the slogan “Freedom for Ales
Bialiatski” in English and Russian.
The
same posters were pasted on advertisement
pillars. The activists also handed out leaflets with hte addresses of
the 12 political prisoners and the proposal to write them letters of
support. The participants of the action noted that the local citizens
knew little about Belarus and the existence of political prisoners in
the country. However, one of the passers-by noted, tat one of the
local newspapers wrote about the rigging of the parliamentary
election in Belarus in 2012.
In
Prague,
the action on the
occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the civil
society of Belarus and in support of the
political prisoners was held with the participation of the
Organization for the modernization of the
Czech Republic, the civil campaign "Our House", as well as
the international association "Civil Belarus" and "People
in Need".
On 4 August an action
of solidarity with the Belarusian civil society activists was also
held in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek,
by the human rights movement "Bir
Duino Kyrgyzstan".
Warsaw
was one of the cities where the Day of Solidarity with the Belarusian
civil society was held on a large scale. Horizon Group together with
the Helsinki Foundation stated that Belarus is the last country in
Europe to apply the death penalty.
In
Kyiv, the
Maryinskiy park was declared the “Space of Free Belarus” for the
whole day on 4 August. Lectures, discussions and photo exhibitions
were held there. Unknown provocateurs tried to assault the photo
exhibition, but didn't manage to disrupt the event.