The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

Hrodna city executive officials have banned the holding of a series of pickets in support of retaining Polish-language education at a local secondary school attended by representatives of the city’s Polish minority.

It is two years since Baranavichy activist Mikalai Charnavus started applying for the registration of a local Ukrainian minority NGO “Kobzar”. His latest visit to chairman of Brest regional executive committee Kanstantsin Sumar was not optimistic, as the high official said the NGO could only be registered after 15 mln rubles were donated to the city budget.

Over the course of the last few days, a number of individuals and organizations, including the MEP Henryk Migalski, have called on Amnesty International to recognise Syarhei Kavalenka as a prisoner of conscience. This statement explains why Amnesty International has not been able to do so.

Mahiliou-based Youth Center is once again target of harassment, as local tax inspection claims the NGO has failed to submit an income declaration.

Ruslan Nevar has lodged a complaint against a decision by Minsk City Court which upheld a 4 mln fine of 6 April 2012 ordered by Kastrychnitski District Court for refusing to undergo forced fingerprinting.

All information concerning the analysis of penal law and penal system monitoring will be published in a thematic section on the website of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”.

The section’s expert is lawyer Pavel Sapelka.

Here is an article by Pavel Sapelka, dealing with the urgency of the issue of human rights violations against people in custody, those serving sentences and held in other institutions.

Vitsebsk police keep harassing the staff of local independent newspaper Vitsebski Kurier, as the weekly’s reporter Yulia Kanapliova was detained by road police on 20 May.