Östgruppen: ten years for advance of democracy and human rights (video)

Swedish human rights organization Östgruppen celebrates 10 years of its activity, one of the priorities of which is Belarus.

Having created an organization for the benefit of the democracy and human rights in Eastern Europe, members of Östgruppen managed to establish a successful cooperation with the organizations of our region, always responding to the pressing problems of fellow human rights activists and actively disseminating information within their country.

The Human Rights Centre "Viasna" enjoys a permanent cooperation with Östgruppen. Name of head of the organization Martin Uggla is well known and respected in the democratic circles in Belarus, including human rights defenders, civil society and cultural activists. Meanwhile, he is persona non grata for the Belarusian authorities due to his criticism of the human rights situation in Belarus. Mr. Uggla has been denied entry to our country. This witnesses the fruitfulness of the work of Östgruppen and its leader personally in support of democracy in Belarus. A certain summary of the ten-year work of the organization can be called a book by Martin Uggla "Memo foraDictator", published this year. With the aid of this book, the author tries to make Belarus more understandable to the authorities of his country and common Swedes.

Head of "Viasna" Ales Bialiatski notes that it is a great honor for him to be able to personally congratulate Östgruppen and attend the event in Stockholm, which began with the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the organization.

All members of the Human Rights Centre "Viasna" join these congratulations, wishing their Swedish counterpart a boundless energy and enthusiasm in achieving all goals and being infinitely grateful for the support.