On 24 February 2012, the Pervomaisk District Court in Vitebsk sentenced opposition activist Siarhei Kavalenka to two years and one month imprisonment, having found him guilty of evading serving a punishment of supervised release.
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources of the arrest and alleged detention of Mr. Aleh Volchek, Head of “Legal Aid to the Population”, an organisation that provided legal assistance and was liquidated in 2003. The organisation recently published a report about the trial of Mr. Ales Bialiatski, President of HRC Viasna and FIDH Vice-President. Mr. Volchek’s recent work focused notably on political prisoners.
The Observatory urges the authorities of Belarus to put an end to all forms of harassment against the above-mentioned organisations and their members, in particular Mr. Ales Bialiatski and ensure that in all circumstances its members are able to carry out their work freely without any hindrances.
The Minsk City Procuracy promised human rights defender Ales Bialiatski to take into account the information submitted by him concerning the criminal cases of activists of anarchist and antifascist movements. However, he had to apply to the prosecutor to make the procuracy answer on the merits of his initial address.
Member of the National Committee of the United Civic Party, candidate for Parliament during the 2008 election Andrei Bandarenka is serving a sentence in Babruisk penal colony, where he has been repeatedly subject to harassment by the colony’s administration, including repeated ungrounded incarceration, disciplinary sanctions, refusals of medical aid.
 |
|
 |