The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

06.05.2010 Law ‘On Amnesty’ adopted in the first reading

The deputies of the Chamber of Representatives unanimously adopted at the sitting on 6 May the law On amnesty in connection with the 65th anniversary of the Victory in the World War II of 1941-1945.

26.03.2010 European HR organizations condemn detention of Viasna activists

Civil Rights Defenders (Sweden), Belarusian Human Rights House (Lithuania), Human Rights House Foundation (Norway) and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee condemn the detention of three activists of the Human Rights Center ‘Viasna’. "They were supposed to have applied for permission to assembly, but since the organisation they represent has been denied official registration several times, the application would not have been granted. In practice their right to assembly is severely restricted" says AneTusvik Bonde, Regional Manager at the Human Rights House Foundation.

23.03.2010 Belarus carries out two executions

Amnesty International is calling on the President of Belarus Alyaksandr Lukashenka to establish an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty after it was revealed two men were executed at the end of last week.

15.01.2010 Parole granted to Ales Charnyshou, figurant of ‘Process of 14’

Ales Charnyshou, a figurant of the ‘Process of 14’, instigated against participants of a peaceful rally of entrepreneurs in January 2008, was amnestied.

09.11.2009 2 126 persons amnestied

According Zhana Baturytskaya, head of the regime work department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as a result of the law on amnesty whose implementation came to an end on 7 November, 2 126 persons were released from closed penitentiary institutions of Belarus.

09.10.2009 Supreme Court returns case of Alexander Straltsou for review

On 16 September the presidium of Minsk city court considered the protest of the deputy-head of the Supreme Court against the ruling of Tsentralny verdict of Minsk of 15 June 2009 to Ales Straltsou, figurant of the ‘process of 14’ and ruled the verdict needed to be reversed.

14.09.2009 Figurant of ‘Process of 14’ Ales Straltsou gets chance to be amnestied

On 9 September Ales Straltsou received by mail a copy of the protest of the head of the Supreme Court of Belarus against the verdict, issued to him by Tsentralny district court of Minsk concerning the replacement of the personal restraint for him to corrective labor with exaction of 15% from the wage for the benefit of the state. It was also written in the letter that the protest had been directed to the presidium of Minsk city court.

17.08.2009 Minsk City Court denies amnesty to Ales Straltsou

According to an official letter signed by Judge V.Putsila, Minsk City Court has turned down the claim by Ales Straltsou, one of the accused in the ‘case of 14’, against the verdict by Minsk Tsentralny Court of 15 June 2009. The verdict reduced the punishment Mr.Straltsou must have been released from under the Law on Amnesty. ‘Under Article 21 of the Law on Amnesty of 5 May 2009, the application of amnesty to persons convicted to restraint of liberty without sending them to an open type institution as a result of a valid judgment, are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior’, says the letter. Meanwhile, Belarusian human rights activists have repeatedly called upon the authorities to grant a prompt and unambiguous amnesty to all the participants of the ‘process of 14’ and stresses that the issue has not been attended to properly.

14.08.2009 Alexander Barazenka got amnestied

The figurant of the Process of 14 Alexander Barazenka has been amnestied. ‘On 12 August I was summonsed to Pinsk city prosecutor’s office and informed about it’, said Mr. Barazenka to BelaPAN.

05.08.2009 Political prisoner Pavel Vinahradau amnestied

The activist of the civil campaign European Belarus Pavel Vinahradau found out about that on 3 August, when he visited criminal and penal inspection.

31.07.2009 Some 2,500 persons released under amnesty

Some 2,500 convicts have been released from Belarusian prisons under an amnesty marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders, the BELTA news agency reports quoting Minister of the Interior Anatol Kuliashou. At a special session of the Parliamentary Commission on Foreign Affairs and CIS Relations, Mr.Kuliashou also mentioned the possibility of liberalizing the criminal legislation of Belarus. Still, the Minister admitted Belarus occupies the third place in the number of convicts, Russia and the USA taking the first two.

28.07.2009 Court reduces sentence to Ales Straltsou in violation to Law on Amnesty

One of the participants of the ‘Case of 14’ Ales Straltsou has lodged a complaint with Minsk City Court against the verdict of Minsk Tsentralny Court of 15 June 2009, which reduced the activist’s sentence. However, Ales Straltsou must have been freed from the punishment under the Law on Amnesty. In April 2008 Ales Straltsou was sentenced to two years of imprisonment for ‘peace disturbance’ during the January 2008 entrepreneurs’ rally in Minsk. The sentence was later reduced to 14 months of imprisonment and 15 days of correctional work.

21.07.2009 Participant of Process of 14 Mikhail Subach amnestied

Mikhail Subach was granted amnesty yet on July 15, but he learnt this only on Friday.

We remind that the Process of 14 is a case under article 342 of the Criminal Code of Belarus instigated against participants of a peaceful protest rally of entrepreneurs held in Minsk on January 10, 2008.

For participation in this rally the Tsentralny district court of Minsk sentenced youth activist Andrei Kim to 1.5 years in penal colony (he was released in August 2008). Activist of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Alyaksandr Barazenka was sentenced to one year of restraint of liberty without sending him to a penal facility, he was kept in a detention center from October 27 to December 9, 2008.

08.07.2009 Belarus is more liberal than ever: political prisoners still exist, while Nazis are amnestied

A leaders of Homel structure of the Russian National Unity (RNU) in Homel Andrei Nestsiarovich returned to his native city after two years on the run.