The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

16.11.2019 2019 parliamentary elections: Report on election campaigning

Administrative resources were widely used to promote the pro-government candidates, while a number of non-affiliated and opposition candidates reported obstacles in concealing or providing false information about their campaigning activities, as well as censorship of their political advertising.

16.11.2019 Report on monitoring peaceful assembly on November 15 in Minsk

On November 15, a protest entitled “The meeting of free people” took place in Kastryčnickaja Square and Svabody Square.

14.11.2019 Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections announce press conference on results of monitoring parliamentary elections

The nation-wide domestic non-partisan election observation campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” will hold a press conference on the results of monitoring the elections of members of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the seventh convocation. The event will take place at 12 a.m., November 18 at Manastyrski Hotel in Minsk.

12.11.2019 Supreme Court confirms death penalty for Viktar Paulau

The Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence handed down to Viktar Paulau on July 30. The defendant was found guilty of double murder committed in December 2018.

11.11.2019 2019 parliamentary elections: Weekly report. November 4-9

observers of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” report the predominantly low-key character of the election campaign. There were ongoing cases of bans on broadcasting the campaign speeches of opposition candidates.

09.11.2019 Report on monitoring peaceful assembly on November 8 in Minsk

The peaceful assembly was a part of the candidates’ election campaigns for the House of Representatives.

08.11.2019 Belarus elections still ignore key recommendations, says OSCE ODIHR mission

The parliamentary election campaign in Belarus is low key, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights said in an interim report released 10 days before voting day set for November 17.

06.11.2019 PACE rapporteur denounces fresh death sentence in Belarus

Titus Corlatean (Romania, SOC), General Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the abolition of the death penalty, has denounced a judgment of the Brest Regional Court (Belarus) of 25 October sentencing to death Viktar Serhil in a trial concerning the murder of an eight-month-old girl.

03.11.2019 2019 parliamentary elections: Weekly report. October 28 - November 2

There were cases of abusing administrative resources for the purposes of election campaigning by the pro-government candidates, as well as creating obstacles to independent and opposition candidates in their campaigning events.

01.11.2019 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: October 2019

On October 25, the court, finding Paliyenka guilty of the alleged act, sentenced him to three years of restricted freedom without imprisonment, reducing the sentence by one year under an amnesty.

30.10.2019 Censorship and penalties: Parliamentary elections worse than ever

This year’s parliamentary elections have already been marred by multiple instances of arbitrary interpretation of electoral laws, Uladzimir Labkovich, coordinator of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”, said in a comment on the case of candidate Uladzimir Zahryshau running in Babrujsk.

29.10.2019 EU, OSCE PA condemn new death sentence in Belarus

“A moratorium on executions in Belarus would be a positive first step towards the abolition of the death penalty in the country,” a statement by Maja Kocijancic, European Union Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, said in response to the death sentence handed down by the Brest Regional Court.

28.10.2019 Parliamentary elections 2019: Analytical weekly report on the results of observation: October 20-25

Registered candidates have been engaged in election campaigning, but the process is not always visible for the public; pro-government candidates mainly speak to the voters at meetings organized on the premises of businesses and state-owned institutions; administrative resources have been used for this purpose.

28.10.2019 New death sentence passed in Belarus

On October 25, the Brest Regional Court sentenced Viktar Serhil, 48, to death, finding him guilty of brutally murdering a minor (Part 2, Art. 139 of the Criminal Code).

25.10.2019 Ex-prisoner of conscience Dzmitry Paliyenka gets 10 months of “house arrest”

Dzmitry Paliyenka, former political prisoner and Amnesty International’s prisoner of conscience, has been sentenced to three years of “restricted freedom,” after a highly controversial trial at the Minsk City Court. The sentence will be reduced to 10 months, considering a recent amnesty and the defendant's stay in pre-trial detention. The activist was released in the courtroom.