15.06.2009 Mitigation of sentences to two participants of ‘process of 14’

Tsentralny district court of Minsk has considered the proposals of the police on mitigation of sentences to Ales Charnyshou and Ales Straltsou, both of whom have 2 months and 15 days of personal restraint left to serve.

12.06.2009 Observatory for Protection of Human Rights Defenders urges Belarusian authorities to re-register 'Viasna' and stop harassment of human rights defeners

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture

29.05.2009 Official Minsk ignores recommendations by international HR experts

Belarusian human rights activists appreciate the impartiality of the international human rights organizations’ annual reports, but at the same time they stress that such reports do not directly affect the situation in the field of human rights in the country. The main problem is that the Belarusian authorities do not react on them. The impartiality of the Report. According to the human rights activist Valiantsin Stefanovich, it is fair that it was the violations of the people’s rights to the freedom of speech and assembly that the Amnesty International considered the most brutal HR violations in Belarus in 2008, for the year was marked by a number of politically motivated criminal trials over Andrei Kim and Siarhei Parsiukevich, as well the ‘Process of 14’, when 14 persons were convicted for participating in a peaceful demonstration.

28.05.2009 Amnesty International: Freedom of speech and civil activists persecuted in Belarus

The annual report of the international human rights organisation Amnesty International says that the situation with human rights in Belarus hasn’t changed: peaceful rallies are brutally disbanded, civil society activists and journalists were harassed.

“The government continued to exert excessive control over civil society. State control over the media increased,” AI experts noted.

“Some public events were banned; peaceful demonstrators were fined and detained for short periods; and civil society activists and journalists were harassed. Belarus continued to hand down death sentences and execute prisoners,” the report of the human rights organisation reads.

27.05.2009 Amnesty International coordinator met with leader of embattled New Life church

On May 26 a meeting of Amnesty International coordinator on Belarus Lars Bünger with the pastor of Minsk-based charismatic New Life church Vyachaslau Hancharenka (Vyacheslav Goncharenko).

The sides discussed the situation with the congregation. The human rights activist from Switzerland has arrived in Belarus on a three-day visit.

As noted by Vyachaslau Hancharenka, Lars Bünger asked about the details of the recent events around the church and offered its leadership to stay in contact with him constantly.

27.05.2009 EASTERN PARTNERSHIP: TOWARDS CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM

Official side-event of the Czech EU Presidency under the auspices of H.E. Mirek Topolánek, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. International Conference May 5-6, 2009, Prague

26.05.2009 PACE Political Affairs Committee vote to restore Special Guest status for Belarus

The Political Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on May 26 voted to restore Special Guest status in PACE for a delegation from Belarus, which was suspended in 1997, BelaPAN said.

The committee unanimously adopted a report by Andrea Rigoni of Italy on the situation in Belarus.

Mr. Rigoni, who is PACE’s rapporteur on Belarus, proposed that the status be restored provided a mechanism was found for the Belarusian delegation to include representatives of the “extra-parliamentary opposition.”

Goran Lindblad, chairman of the committee who visited Belarus in February, said following that visit that PACE “wants to bring Belarus closer to Council of Europe standards.”

21.05.2009 Reporters without Borders: Lukashenka playing triple game

Representatives of Reporters without Borders blame the Belarusian authorities of pressing the opposition.

Only slightly changes in the situation with freedom of media can be noticed in Belarus, representative of Representatives of Reporters Elsa Vidal said on May 20. The human rights activist thinks there are different levers of pressure upon the Belarusian ruler in this sector, but it’s “very difficult to press on Alyaksandr Lukashenka”, Deutsche Welle reports.

20.05.2009 Independent trade union leader demands reinstatement of fired workers

Mikalai Kanakh, vice-head of the Belarusian Congress of Pro-Dem Trade Unions, says financial assistance to the fired trade union activists is not an adequate remedy to implement the recommendations by the International Labour Organizations, demanding their full reinstatement. At the same time, the trade union leader welcomes the willingness of the government to establish relationships with the independent trade unions and continue cooperating with the ILO. However, Mr.Kanakh is sure no compensation could repair the enormous damage to the Belarusian independent trade union movement caused by the authorities over the past decade.

04.05.2009 Belarusian authorities banned recuperation trips of children to Switzerland

400 Belarusian children from regions contaminated with radiation won’t be able to go for recuperation any more.

29.04.2009 Front Line issues statement on refusal to register human rights organisation Nasha Viasna

Front Line is concerned by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus, on 22 April 2009, to maintain the previous decision of the Ministry of Justice not to register the human rights organisation Nasha Viasna (Our spring). Nasha Viasna is the new name of the human rights centre previously known as Viasna (Spring), which was closed down by the Supreme Court following the demand of the Ministry of Justice on 28 November 2003. The human rights center Viasna is one of the most active Belarusian human rights organisations, specialising in particular in the defence, protection and promotion of political and social rights.

09.04.2009 Statement of Human Rights House Foundation and Norwegian Helsinki Committee on criminal persecution of Leanid Svetsik

The Human Rights House Foundation and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee are concerned about the charges brought against the human rights defender Leanid Svetsik from the Vitebsk region and urge the Belarusian authorities to carry out a transparent and impartial investigation. On 31 March the KGB office in Vitebsk region charged Leanid Svetsik with violating Article 130 (fomentation of national and religious enmity), and Article 367 of the Criminal Code (insulting the honour of the President).

24.03.2009 Amnesty International presents report on death penalty in Minsk

On 24 March the international human rights organization Amnesty International presented its annual report on the use of the death penalty. The report underlines that Belarus is the only European country which still uses the capital punishment. Nicola Duckworth, Director of the AI Program for Europe and Central Asia, stresses that the death penalty is the most inhuman, cruel and degrading form of punishment: ‘There is no room for hanging, beheading, electrocution, lethal injection or lapidating in the 21th century.’

24.03.2009 Minsk City Court ignores UN rulings

The civil panel of Minsk City Court have rejected the complaint lodged by Viktar Karneenka against the decision by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denying the Civil Initiatives movement its rights to legal activity. Thus, Minsk City Court has supported an earlier decision by Minsk Leninski Court, stating that Viktar Karneenka, as head of the Civil Initiatives, cannot be the legal chair of the organization after its liquidation in 2003.

19.03.2009 Amnesty International to launch reports calling for the abolition of the death penalty

On 24 March 2009, Amnesty International will release its global death penalty statistics, looking at how many people were executed or sentenced to death across the world during 2008. On the same day in a separate report, Ending executions in Europe: Towards abolition of the death penalty in Belarus, the human rights organization will call on the last state in Europe and Central Asia that still sentences people to death and executes them to follow the global trend and abolish the death penalty.