06.07.2009 HRH Network against freedom of association abuses in the Belarusian legislation

HRH Network has joined the campaign “No to Article 193.1!” The campaign is headed by the NGO Assembly and its goal is to force cancellation of the article 193.1 of the Belarusian Criminal Code.

01.07.2009 Amnesty International and Belarusian Helsinki Committee adopted joint statement concerning new death sentenced in Belarus

‘The Belarusian authorities continue to ignore international pressure on them to declare a moratorium on the death penalty’, RFE/RL quotes a press release of Amnesty International.

30.06.2009 Uladzimir Katsora stopped hunger-strike

The leader of Homel oppositionists Uladzimir Katsora, who has been arrested for an action in the memory of the police general Yury Zakharanka, stopped dry hunger-strike after six days.

30.06.2009 Follow-up Note on the View Belyatsky et al. vs. Belarus

The Human Rights House Foundation (Oslo, Norway, and Geneva, Switzerland) and the Belarusian Human Rights House in exile in Vilnius, Lithuania, hereby submit the present follow-up note to the Human Rights Committee (hereinafter, “HR Committee”) on the View Belyatsky et al. vs. Belarus on the communication No. 1296/2004 of 24 July 2007, published on 7 August 2007 (hereinafter, “the View”).

25.06.2009 Ales Bialiatski: PACE’s requirements are an additional stimulus for Viasna’s members to continue their activities

In its recent resolution on the situation in Belarus, PACE called upon the Belarusian authorities to allow registration to the Nasha Viasna human rights organization, which is one of the essential conditions for the country to meet the Council of Europe standards. According to Ales Bialiatski, the requirement is an additional stimulus for Viana’s members to continue their activities.

24.06.2009 Front Line joins Stop 193.1! campaign

Front Line calls for the repeal of Article 193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus in support of the campaign “STOP 193.1!” lead by the Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs, the largest Belarusian coalition of NGOs. Article 193.1 criminalises any independent human rights initiative in Belarus and gives state officials the power to stop activities of human rights organisations at any time.

19.06.2009 Amnesty International: Council of Europe must remember about Belarusian political prisoners

On June 23 PACE deputies will vote on the issue of returning Special Guest status to Belarus.

Whatever the result of the vote would be, the human rights organisation “Amnesty International” calls upon the Assembly not to give up attempts to convince Belarus of necessity to announce official moratorium on capital punishment, and in the future – to abolish capital punishment. Besides, the Assembly should join in calls on immediate and unconditional release of 11 persons recognized as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International, the statement of the organisation reads, “Viasna” informs.

15.06.2009 Mitigation of sentences to two participants of ‘process of 14’

Tsentralny district court of Minsk has considered the proposals of the police on mitigation of sentences to Ales Charnyshou and Ales Straltsou, both of whom have 2 months and 15 days of personal restraint left to serve.

12.06.2009 Observatory for Protection of Human Rights Defenders urges Belarusian authorities to re-register 'Viasna' and stop harassment of human rights defeners

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture

29.05.2009 Official Minsk ignores recommendations by international HR experts

Belarusian human rights activists appreciate the impartiality of the international human rights organizations’ annual reports, but at the same time they stress that such reports do not directly affect the situation in the field of human rights in the country. The main problem is that the Belarusian authorities do not react on them. The impartiality of the Report. According to the human rights activist Valiantsin Stefanovich, it is fair that it was the violations of the people’s rights to the freedom of speech and assembly that the Amnesty International considered the most brutal HR violations in Belarus in 2008, for the year was marked by a number of politically motivated criminal trials over Andrei Kim and Siarhei Parsiukevich, as well the ‘Process of 14’, when 14 persons were convicted for participating in a peaceful demonstration.

28.05.2009 Amnesty International: Freedom of speech and civil activists persecuted in Belarus

The annual report of the international human rights organisation Amnesty International says that the situation with human rights in Belarus hasn’t changed: peaceful rallies are brutally disbanded, civil society activists and journalists were harassed.

“The government continued to exert excessive control over civil society. State control over the media increased,” AI experts noted.

“Some public events were banned; peaceful demonstrators were fined and detained for short periods; and civil society activists and journalists were harassed. Belarus continued to hand down death sentences and execute prisoners,” the report of the human rights organisation reads.

27.05.2009 Amnesty International coordinator met with leader of embattled New Life church

On May 26 a meeting of Amnesty International coordinator on Belarus Lars Bünger with the pastor of Minsk-based charismatic New Life church Vyachaslau Hancharenka (Vyacheslav Goncharenko).

The sides discussed the situation with the congregation. The human rights activist from Switzerland has arrived in Belarus on a three-day visit.

As noted by Vyachaslau Hancharenka, Lars Bünger asked about the details of the recent events around the church and offered its leadership to stay in contact with him constantly.

27.05.2009 EASTERN PARTNERSHIP: TOWARDS CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM

Official side-event of the Czech EU Presidency under the auspices of H.E. Mirek Topolánek, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. International Conference May 5-6, 2009, Prague

26.05.2009 PACE Political Affairs Committee vote to restore Special Guest status for Belarus

The Political Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on May 26 voted to restore Special Guest status in PACE for a delegation from Belarus, which was suspended in 1997, BelaPAN said.

The committee unanimously adopted a report by Andrea Rigoni of Italy on the situation in Belarus.

Mr. Rigoni, who is PACE’s rapporteur on Belarus, proposed that the status be restored provided a mechanism was found for the Belarusian delegation to include representatives of the “extra-parliamentary opposition.”

Goran Lindblad, chairman of the committee who visited Belarus in February, said following that visit that PACE “wants to bring Belarus closer to Council of Europe standards.”

21.05.2009 Reporters without Borders: Lukashenka playing triple game

Representatives of Reporters without Borders blame the Belarusian authorities of pressing the opposition.

Only slightly changes in the situation with freedom of media can be noticed in Belarus, representative of Representatives of Reporters Elsa Vidal said on May 20. The human rights activist thinks there are different levers of pressure upon the Belarusian ruler in this sector, but it’s “very difficult to press on Alyaksandr Lukashenka”, Deutsche Welle reports.