A picket in support of human rights defender Ales Bialiatski and other political prisoners in Belarus was held near the Belarusian Embassy in Stockholm on 31 January. It was organized by the Swedish human rights initiative Östgruppen in cooperation with Civil Rights Defenders, the Swedish branch of Amnesty International and the Swedish Union of Writers.
Signatures for the nomination of the Belarusian human rights defender and political prisoner Ales Bialiatski were collected in the Polish Parliament by representatives of the two biggest Polish parties – the ruling “Civil Platform” and the oppositional “Law and Justice”.
According to Roman Bezsmertny, former Ambassador of the Ukraine to Belarus, five Ukrainian parliamentarians addressed the Nobel Peace Prize Committee with a letter for the nomination of the Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski as a candidate for the Peace Prize.
One of the seats was left empty to symbolize the virtual presence of human rights defender Ales Bialiatski at the presentation of the annual report of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 8 December. That’s how the All-Ukrainian Association of Civil Human Rights Actions expressed support to Bialiatski.
A letter was received from human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, sentenced to 4.5 years in a high-security colony. He wrote it on 30 November, after the announcement of the verdict, but before his transfer to the Zhodzina prison. After the trial he returned to his usual affairs – learning English, reading and answering a great number of letters. He feels quite well and calm and wishes it to all his colleagues. Ales is sure that the dirt which was flung at him by state-owned media didn't touch him, but the strong support from many acquaintances and strangers made a great positive impact.
Orsha-based human rights defenders Vasil Berasneu and Vasil Leuchankau filed appeals with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Vitsebsk Regional Procuracy. They state that their freedom of expression, guaranteed by Article 35 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, was violated by the picket ban issued by the the Orsha City Executive Committee.
Human rights activist and Belarus PEN member Ales Byalyatski was sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment on 24 November 2011 on charges of tax evasion. The charges, which stemmed from Byalyatski’s use of personal bank accounts to receive funding for his human rights organization Vyasna, were described as “politically motivated” in a European Union report released earlier this week.
This was repeated again and again during the ceremony in Copenhagen on 14 November, at which the Danish edition Politiken awarded its Freedom Prize to Ales Bialiatski and the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, headed by him. A poster with a graphic portrait of Ales Bialiatski hung on the wall to symbolize the symbolic presence of the prize-holder.
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