The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

Two independent journalists from Mahiliou, Yauhen Hlushkou and Alina Skrabunova, received notices that they needed to come to the Bialynichy District Police Department to police inspector Aliaksandr Yemialyanau at 10 a.m. on 13 May.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus, Miklos Haraszti, has published his first report on the situation of human rights in the country. The document was prepared under the mandate approved by the UN Council on Human Rights, and presented at the Council on 18 April.

The Human Rights Center "Viasna" urges the Belarusian authorities to stop the practice of intimidation and pressurization of civic activists and immediately decriminalize the activity of unregistered organizations.

FIDH and the Human Rights Center “Viasna” demand that charges against six people, including two journalists, one human rights defender and one activist, be dropped in relation to their engagement in this years annual commemoration of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights Center “Viasna” are concerned about the procedural irregularities in the investigation into the charges brought against Andrei Haidukou.

Several publications posted on the website of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” were distorted, after hackers gained unauthorized access to the website last evening. The hacker attack affected all the three language versions.

The complaint concerns two short jail terms the human rights defender had to serve in 2012 in the Center for Isolation of Offenders at 36 Akrestsin Street, www.protivpytok.org reports.

Human rights defender Leanid Sudalenka filed a lawsuit to the Tsentralny District Court of Homel against the Ministry of Finance demanding compensation for moral damages due to the failure of the authorities to implement the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Committee. He estimates the moral damage at the amount of the salary of a Member of Parliament within four years of office.

Human rights defender Leanid Svetsik applied to the Central Election Commission with the proposal to introduce amendments to the Electoral Code. In particular, he asked to supply Article 11 of the Electoral Code with the notion of the legal status of election commissions. In her answer the CEC head informed him that his application wouldn't be considered on its merits.