The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for 18 Apr 2012

18.04.2012 Brest court upholds picket ban

Brest Leninski District Court has upheld a ban on a picket applied for by local human rights defender Uladzimir Vialichkin.

18.04.2012 Russian human rights defender Gefter: It is absolutely intolerable to prevent citizens from going abroad without good grounds

“People cannot be restricted in their right to travel abroad, expect for the cases when the decision has been enforced by a court,’ says Valentin Gefter, Director of the Institute of Human Rights, Member of the Presidential Council for the Promotion of Civil Society and Human Rights, in his interview with the web-site of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”.

18.04.2012 Minsk activist Marharyta Lavyshyk detained

Marharyta Lavyshyk, coordinator of the “Revolution through Social Network” campaign, has been detained by Minsk police at her apartment this afternoon, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.

18.04.2012 Appeals by “travel banned” politicians dismissed

The Court of the Vitebsk Region upheld verdicts against Lyabedzka, Kalyakin and Atroshchankau.

18.04.2012 Syarhey Kavalenka receives no medical attention, wife says

Doctors at the Navinki psychiatric hospital are doing nothing to help Syarhey Kavalenka recover after his debilitating hunger strike, the wife of the 37-year-old opposition activist told BelaPAN on Tuesday.

18.04.2012 Valiantsin Stefanovich: there are legal grounds for Ales Bialiatski’s release without petition for pardon

Legal acts provide for several possible ways to obtain the release of Ales Bialiatski, says Viasna deputy chairman Valiantsin Stefanovich in his interview with the Nasha Niva weekly. It is possible even if he does not sign a petition for pardon, says the human rights defender.

18.04.2012 U.S. Helsinki Commission calls for increased efforts to secure release of other political prisoners

“The release of political prisoners Andrei Sannikau and Zmitser Bandarenka, following 16 months of incarceration, is a step in the right direction. The Government of Belarus must take the next step and immediately and unconditionally release all of the remaining political prisoners, including Mikalai Statkevich, Ales Bialiatski, Syarhei Kavalenka, Zmitser Dashkevich, Pavel Seviarynets, Mikalai Autukhovich, Eduard Lobau, Mikalai Dziadok and others, and guarantee the full restoration of their civil and political rights," said Representative Chris Smith, Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission.