17.12.2020 100 godparents for political prisoners in Belarus
Cem Özdemir, Member of the Bundestag and former long-time leader of Alliance 90/The Greens, is the 100th MP who takes over a godparenthood for political prisoners in Belarus, symbolically adopting journalist Katsiaryna Barysevich.
17.12.2020 Amnesty International: Witness in police killing of protester faces life sentence
Belarusian authorities are attempting to cover up the killing of a peaceful protester by police by bringing serious criminal charges against a key witness, Amnesty International said.
16.12.2020 One more defamation sentence: Man with cancer gets one year in prison for “insulting” Lukashenka
The Chojniki District Court sentenced today a disabled resident of Homieĺ to 12 months in a penal colony for “publicly insulting the president” at an election rally on July 28.
16.12.2020 "They broke my nose and car because I had a white ribbon." Survivor stories
On the night of August 11-12, 31-year-old Minsk resident Mikalai Bondar was literally dragged from his car by law enforcement officers for a white ribbon on his arm. The traffic and riot policemen smashed his car, beat him, broke his nose, and took him to the detention center.
15.12.2020 Two more persons convicted for "insulting" police officers
Yury Karnilovich, a 31-year-old welder at the MAZ automotive manufacturer, was sentenced today to three years in an open-type penal colony (so called “khimiya”) for allegedly insulting former Interior Minister Yury Karayeu in a comment on YouTube. The sentence is the heaviest possible penalty provided by the charge.
15.12.2020 Political prisoner Ihar Losik goes on hunger strike to protest new charges
Political prisoner Ihar Losik has declared an indefinite hunger strike after he faced today new charges of “plotting riots” (Art 13, Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code) in addition to an earlier charge of “breaching public order” (Part 1 of Art. 342).
15.12.2020 Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections issue final report on August 9 presidential election
The non-partisan observation initiative "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections" has published the final analytical report on the results of observation of the 2020 presidential elections in the Republic of Belarus.
15.12.2020 Amnesty International: Tortured detainee denied medical care
Viachaslau Rahashchuk is a taxi driver from the Belarusian city of Pinsk who was arbitrarily detained in 10 August and remains behind bars. He is in need of urgent medical treatment due to injuries he sustained from being tortured while in detention.
14.12.2020 Violent protest dispersion resulted in a broken arm and a night at the detention center. Survivor stories
My knee was seriously injured, and in general the right side of my body was just smashed. There was a real psychopath among the riot policemen. When he detained me, he was on my right side, and the other riot policeman was on my left. While my left side was injured, but not critically, my right side was just smashed.
14.12.2020 More German MPs are godparents for Belarusian political prisoners
As part of the solidarity campaign #WeStandBYyou of Libereco, Sandra Bubendorfer-Licht (FDP), Oliver Luksic (FDP) and Marja-Liisa Völlers (SPD) have taken over a godparenthood for political prisoners Mikhail Kalishuk, Yahor Kanetski and Andrei Papou.
14.12.2020 Viasna wins Polish Prize of Sérgio Vieira de Mello
On December 10, the Human Rights Center “Viasna” was awarded the Polish Prize of Sérgio Vieira de Mello, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
11.12.2020 "We felt like we were chickens brought to a cage with tigers." Survivor stories
The riot police came out of the road police car. They poked their shotguns into our windows and told us to get out. We did. They put us on our knees and asked, 'Do you want change?' They hit us on the head with batons.
11.12.2020 National Human Rights Award winners announced
On the International Human Rights Day, December 10, a coalition of human rights organizations of Belarus held a ceremony in Minsk to present the annual National Human Rights Awards.
10.12.2020 New godparents for Belarusian political prisoners
Members of German Bundestag and the European Parliament take over godparenthood for Dzianis Boltuts, Anton Bialenski and Yauhen Afnahel
09.12.2020 New report on post-election protests presented in Minsk. Full English text
A coalition of Belarusian human rights defenders presented today a report entitled “Belarus. August 2020: “Justice” for Protesters.” It highlights violations of the standards of a fair trial after tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators protested the rigged presidential election and thousands were detained en masse and were convicted in August 2020.
