18.01.2012 Minsk authorities ban over 60 pickets in support of Ales Bialiatski

None of over 60 pickets in support of imprisoned Viasna leader Ales Bialiatski expected to be staged by human rights defenders was authorized by Minsk executive authorities.

16.01.2012 MEPs consider Ales Bialiatski’s case

The delegation of the International Federation for Human Rights took part in the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee meeting to discuss the situation in Belarus held in Brussels on 12 January.

05.01.2012 American Bar Association considers conviction of Bialiatski as illegal

American lawyers released an expert declaration in the case of Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski.

28.12.2011 Photofact: Ales Bialiatski's vacant chair at Observatory's Annual Report presentation in Baku

The chair of FIDH Vice-President Ales Bialiatski was left vacant during the presentation of the 2011 Report by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 27 December.

27.12.2011 Ales Bialiatski pays tribute to father in Minsk morgue

Ales Bialiatski was given 10 minutes to pay last tribute to his father in a morgue in Minsk this morning.

27.12.2011 Judgement in the case of Ales Bialiatski by the Court of Pershamaiski District of the city of Minsk

On 24 November 2011, the Court of Pershamaiski District of the city of Minsk composed of presiding judge S.V. Bandarenka, with participation of state prosecutor V.I. Saikouski, defense lawyer D.Y. Layeuski, having examined in an open trial on the premises of the Court of Maskouski District of the city of Minsk the criminal case file in relation to:

Aliaksandr Viktaravich Bialiatski, born 25 September 1962, native of the town of Viartsila, Sortavala District, the Republic of Karelia, the Russian Federation, citizen of the Republic of Belarus, liable for military service, married, with higher education, unemployed, previously not convicted, registered at: 78A-48 Nezalezhnastsi Avenue, Minsk,

charged under Par. 2 Art. 243 of the Criminal Code.

26.12.2011 Will Bialiatski be allowed to attend father's funeral?

Every authority possible has been involved to obtain permission for imprisoned Viasna leader Ales Bialiatski to attend the funeral of his father, who died on 24 December, says the human rights defender's wife Natallia, following her today's appeals submitted to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Interior Ministry.

24.12.2011 Ales Bialiatski's father dies

The father of imprisoned Viasna leader Ales Bialiatski Viktar Bialiatski, 82, has died of lung cancer this morning. Thus, Ales Bialiatski has not managed to see his dying father after the human rights defender's wife and associates were repeatedly denied the right with reference to procedural flaws and legal requirements.

24.12.2011 Christmas and New Year wishes from Ales Bialiatski!

“Let us hope the year will be quieter for us personally and maybe a decisive one for the whole country. Then life will flow in the necessary direction”, says imprisoned Viasna leader Ales Bialiatski in a letter sent from Zhodzina prison, wishing a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of his friends and colleagues.

22.12.2011 Ales Bialiatski will not be able to see father, says Interior Ministry

The Interior Ministry’s Department for the Execution of Sentences has banned the meeting of imprisoned Viasna leader Ales Bialiatski with his dying father, says his wife Natallia.

20.12.2011 Ales Bialiatski’s chair left vacant at 2011 Report on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders presentation in Yerevan

On the 14th of December the Chairman of the Board of “Civil Society Institute” NGO and FIDH Secretary General Artak Kirakosyan together with CSI NGO president Arman Danielyan presented the 2011 Report on the Protection of the Human Rights Defenders around the world. In Armenia, as in other countries, during the presentation of the report the seat of the speaker Ales Bialiatski was left vacant as a call for setting him free.

20.12.2011 Ales Bialiatski’s meeting with dying father possible on paper only

The wife of imprisoned Viasna leader Ales Bialiatski has received another reply from Chair of Minsk Pershamaiski District Court Mrs. Tamara Vysotskaya on the possibility of Bialiatski’s meeting with his father who is said to be on his death-bed.

19.12.2011 Ales Bialiatski may be late to part with father due to procedural flaws

The imprisoned Viasna leader Ales Bialiatski may not have enough time to part with his father, 82, who is said to be on his death-bed, due to bureaucratic acrimony of the current Belarusian judicial and penal systems.

16.12.2011 EU expands sanctions against Belarus after Byalyatski's trial

The EU's press-center has informed that two officials who participated in the trial against HR defender Ales Byalyatski were included into the "black list".

15.12.2011 Valiantsin Stefanovich appeals against fine issued by tax inspection

On 2 December Maryiana Valchkova, Judge of the Partyzanski District Court of Minsk, left standing the ruling of the Partyzanski District Tax Inspection of Minsk of 19 October 2011, according to which human rights defender Valiantsin Stefanovich was fined 4,727,330 rubles for “the failure to mention the whole sum of taxable income through inattentiveness”.