The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for August 2015

21.08.2015 Human rights humanitarian mission completes first stage in Ukraine

For two and a half months, more than twenty Belarusian volunteers have helped the Station Kharkov initiative in receiving internally displaced persons from the conflict-hit areas in eastern Ukraine. The mission is expected to expand its activity to other Ukrainian cities.

21.08.2015 Homieĺ court fines pastor for illegal service

On August 20, Homieĺ’s Centraĺny District Court found Siarhei Nikalayenka, pastor of the Church “Transfiguration”, guilty of violating the rules of holding mass events (Part 2, Art. 23.34 of the Administrative Code). The priest was punished by a fine of 3.6 million for arranging a Sunday service on May 31, which was stopped by riot policemen.

21.08.2015 Fans wearing T-shirt with Chaser coat of arms detained at BATE vs Partizan match

The police detained a Belarusian fan wearing a T-shirt depicting the Chaser coat of arms at the match of the UEFA Champions League play-off.

21.08.2015 UN Human Rights Committee rules against Žlobin officials

At its 114th session (held on June 29 - July 24 in Geneva), the UN Human Rights Committee took a decision in the case of a representative of the Homieĺ Center for Strategic Litigation, human rights activist from Žlobin Valiantsin Yauzrezau.

20.08.2015 Ministry of Justice denies registration for BCD party for fifth time

The organising committee to create the Belarusian Christian Democracy party (BCD) received a refusal from the Ministry of Justice to the application for registration.

20.08.2015 Apartment of Biarozauka activist searched

Two police officers in plain-clothes seized a computer and a printer from Yury Dziashuk, resident of Biarozauka, Lida district.

20.08.2015 Observer in Žodzina appeals against city election commission

Aliaksei Lapitski, observer of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections" in Žodzina, has filed complaints to the Central Election Commission and the Minsk Regional Executive Committee to appeal against the city election commission, which refused to address numerous facts of abuse of administrative resources in collecting signatures by the initiative group of Aliaksandr Lukashenka.

20.08.2015 Pavel Sapelka: Graffiti neither violates public order nor expresses disrespect for society

Lawyer Pavel Sapelka shares his opinion on the criminal cases against the new political prisoners.

20.08.2015 Employees of state-owned enterprise in Bialyničy forced to collect signatures for Mikalai Ulakhovich

Employees of the Bialyničy-based consumer cooperative have been ordered to collect signatures for the nomination of presidential contender Mikalai Ulakhovich, chairman of the Belarusian Patriotic Party, supreme ataman of the NGO "Belarusian Cossacks".

20.08.2015 Alternative candidate in Smarhoń forces state-owned media cover nomination pickets

Mikalai Ulasevich, an activist of Anatol Liabedzka’s campaign team, has received electronic answers to his petitions to the Smarhoń territorial election commission and the district executive committee, which demanded equal conditions for media coverage of presidential candidates’ nomination activities.

20.08.2015 Students in Mahilioŭ recalled from internship to sign for Lukashenka

Students of the Mahilioŭ-based Belarusian-Russian University have been forced to suspend their internship, after they were ordered to return to the city in order to sign in favor of Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s nomination, says monitor of one of the classes of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

20.08.2015 Minsk City Court to examine video evidence in ex-presidential contender’s disorderly conduct case

The Minsk City Court heard yesterday a complaint against a fine imposed on presidential contender Yury Shulhan together with his associate Pavel Kanavalchyk after they were detained outside the building of the Central Election Commission on July 17.

20.08.2015 Viciebsk Regional Court turns down appeal by freelance journalist

Judge Sviatlana Ivanava of the Viciebsk Regional Court has dismissed an appeal lodged by journalist Dzmitry Lupach against a decision of the Hlybokaje District Court, which fined him 4.5 million “for cooperating with foreign media without accreditation.”

20.08.2015 Poisoning with bleach: Torture or ‘violation of sanitary norms”?

The Investigative Committee of Belarus has quashed a decision not to institute criminal proceedings against employees of the Mahilioŭ-based penal colony No. 15, who tortured prisoner Piotr Kuchura with bleach during his confinement in the punishment cell. However, when notifying the convict, a representative of the Investigative Committee writes about a ‘violation of sanitary norms’.