The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

17.10.2017 Russian philosopher ousted from Belarus after 6 days in jail on trumped-up charges

Russian historian and philosopher Pyotr Ryabov has been officially banned from entering Belarus for 10 years, after serving 6 days in jail in Baranavičy on ‘hooliganism’ charges.

17.10.2017 Belarus in EU Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World in 2016

On Monday 16 October 2017 the Council adopted the EU Annual Report on Human Rights And Democracy in the World in 2016.

17.10.2017 Vilnius to host 4th Belarusian Human Rights Forum

On October 19-21, Vilnius will host the IV Belarusian Human Rights Forum, which is expected to be attended by 140 representatives of 29 Belarusian human rights organizations, NGOs with a human rights component I their work, as well as individual human rights defenders and experts. The Forum will bring together representatives of the Belarusian civil society organizations, as well as partners from foreign and international human rights organizations.

10.10.2017 EU and CoE call for moratorium on executions in Belarus on World Day against Death Penalty

On the European and World Day against the Death Penalty, the Council of Europe and the European Union reaffirm their strong and unequivocal opposition to capital punishment in all circumstances and for all cases. The death penalty is incompatible with human dignity. It constitutes inhuman and degrading treatment, does not have any proven deterrent effect and allows judicial errors to become irreversible and fatal.

09.10.2017 Death Penalty in Belarus: Secret Executions in the Middle of Europe

Minsk-Paris, 6 October 2017. Ahead of the International Day against the Death Penalty on the 10th of October, our organisations recall that executions continue to take place in the middle of Europe. Detained in conditions amounting to torture, in constant psychological anguish caused by the uncertainty of the timing of their execution, prisoners in Belarus are being killed in secrecy.

05.10.2017 Viasna to join World Coalition against the Death Penalty

Joining forces with supporters of the global abolitionist movement is another step of the Belarusian human rights defenders towards ending the death penalty in the country. At the same time, Belarus is marked on the world map as a place where death sentences are often imposed on representatives of the most vulnerable groups.

04.10.2017 Schedule of events within the Week against the Death Penalty

The traditional Week against the Death Penalty will be held in various parts of Belarus on October 5-10. “The death penalty is the past”. This is the key message of awareness-raising activities within the Week.

03.10.2017 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: September 2017

On 12 and 25 September, the Ministry of Justice recertified (including in several instances outside schedule) a number of defense lawyers. The country’s human rights community regarded the move as a blatant interference of government bodies in the activities of the Bar.

03.10.2017 Political prisoner Ihar Komlik released before trial

Ihar Komlik, accountant of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union of Radio Electronic Industry (REP) and chairman of the union’s Minsk city branch, has been released from pre-trial detention in jail No. 1 in Minsk after spending two month awaiting trial in a criminal case the country’s human rights community said was politically motivated.

26.09.2017 Ongoing harassment of lawyers involved in ‘White Legion case’

The Qualification Commission of the Ministry of Justice has carried out the certification of 13 more lawyers. According to information obtained by the Human Rights Center "Viasna", there are five defenders of persons charged in the so-called ‘White Legion case’ among those who were ‘conditionally certified’. In such circumstances, the human rights defenders rule out the possibility of organizing a trial in accordance with the standards of fair justice.

26.09.2017 15 activists charged in ‘White Legion case’ plead not guilty in a statement

Fifteen persons facing charges in so-called ‘White Legion case’ have issued a statement to plead not guilty, after the authorities extended the investigation for another six months.

26.09.2017 Mikalai Statkevich gets another 5 days in jail

Opposition politician Mikalai Statkevich has been sentenced to 5 days of administrative detention for his involvement in an illegal rally on September 8 in Minsk.

25.09.2017 Bialiatski calls for respect for fundamental rights and freedoms of political prisoner Zhamchuzhny

Ales Bialiatski, head of the Human Rights Center "Viasna", has written to the Interior Ministry’s Department of Corrections urging to take immediate measures to ensure that political prisoner Mikhail Zhamchuzhny is held in conditions, which would guarantee his personal security and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms.

22.09.2017 Authorities extend investigation into ‘rioting case’

The Investigative Committee has prolonged the investigation of a criminal case involving 14 persons charged with ‘preparing riots’. The case was opened six months ago and will be underway for at least another half-year.

20.09.2017 Persecution of civil society and pressure on lawyers on the agenda of HDIM 2017

A number of side events within the framework of the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting held in Warsaw deal with acute problems related to the work of human rights defenders in the post-Soviet region. The international community has been urged to address the issue of pressure on lawyers and the politically motivated persecution of civil society groups in Belarus.