The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

29.06.2015 State-run press distribution agency in Baranavičy keeps rejecting independent newspaper

The editorial office of a Baranavičy-based private newspaper Intex-Press has not been allowed to sign a contract for use of the government-owned newspaper delivery system Brestablsajuzdruk.

26.06.2015 Homieĺ priests threatened with criminal charges under Article 193.1

The house of Siarhei Nikalayenka, pastor of the Homieĺ-based religious community “Church of God Transfiguration”, as well as the apartment of his deputy Aliaksandr Chuyeu, has been searched by police officers. The raid reportedly dealt with the preliminary investigation of the criminal case under Article 193.1 of the Criminal Code (activities on behalf of unregistered organization).

26.06.2015 “Viasna” activists join campaign against torture

Activists of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” have joined a campaign against torture, initiated by the Russian NGO “Committee against Torture”.

26.06.2015 Prison officials limit Mikalai Dziadok’s meetings with lawyer

On June 25, Mikalai Dziadok’s meeting with his lawyer lasted only 15 minutes. The rest of the time allocated for the counsel’s visit to prison was taken by the preparation of papers, accommodating the lawyer in the visiting room and waiting for the political prisoner. This is not the first time that the duration of Mikalai Dziadok’s communication with the counsel is severely limited.

26.06.2015 Pavel Sapelka: Torture is often a hidden problem in Belarus

In 1997, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 26 June as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. On this day, international and national human rights organizations remind once again that “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.”

26.06.2015 US Department of State about Belarus: Political arrests, abuses, corruption

The US Department of State has launched an annual report on human rights conditions in different countries.

25.06.2015 Belarusian volunteers expand work to Lviv

The Human Rights Humanitarian Mission in Ukraine, which was initiated by the Human Rights Center "Viasna", has started its work in Lviv. The Belarusian human rights activists, led by Uladzimir Vialichkin, should establish cooperation with local non-governmental organizations.

25.06.2015 Mother of inmate who died in jail faces obstacles in access to information

Zhanna Ptsichkina, the mother of Ihar Ptsichkin, who died in jail in 2013, has received another answer from the Prosecutor General’s Office.

25.06.2015 Freelance journalists in Hlybokaje accused of violating mass media law

Police have opened a new case for the cooperation with foreign media without accreditation. On June 25, police in Hlybokaje summoned independent journalists Tatsiana Smotkina and Dzmitry Lupach to question them about publications on the websites of Euroradio Radio Racyja.

25.06.2015 Journalist in Mahilioŭ keeps fighting for right to attend sessions of Regional Council

Legal acts do not provide for special application forms for journalists to attend the sessions of the Mahilioŭ Regional Council, says a reply from its Chairman Anatol Isachenka to local journalist Uladzimir Laptsevich, a correspondent for the news agency BelaPAN. At the same time, the journalist’s request was rejected.

24.06.2015 Prisoner’s Godparenthood: Manuel Sarrazin adopts Mikalai Dziadok

Manuel Sarrazin, Member of the German Bundestag and European policy spokesman for the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group, has taken on a prisoner’s godparenthood for Mikalai Dziadok.

24.06.2015 Lawtrend informs Special Rapporteurs on blocking KYKY.ORG

The Legal Transformation Center Lawtrend has sent a message to Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media; Miklós Haraszti, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, and David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, to inform them about blocking access to a website KYKY.ORG and urged to take all possible measures within their mandates.

24.06.2015 Miklós Haraszti: “Human rights situation inside Belarus showed no signs of improvement” (video)

The Human Rights Council held yesterday an interactive dialogue with Miklós Haraszti, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus.

23.06.2015 Leanid Kulakou sentenced to 10 days in jail for solidarity with Yury Rubtsou

The administrative charges against Leanid Kulakou, an activist of the European Belarus opposition movement, were considered today in the Minsk District Court.

23.06.2015 Kuchura case: Mahilioŭ authorities go blind to complaints

In a continuous attempt to hide the fact of torture in the Mahilioŭ-based penal colony No. 15, reported by the wife of prisoner Piotr Kuchura, officials of the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor’s Office brazenly distort the facts in their formal replies to her complaints, arguing that there was no criminal incident in the colony at all.