News on the topic: human rights defenders
01.09.2011 Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions calls for release of Ales Bialiatski
COPENHAGEN, 1 September 2011—Matteo Mecacci (Italy), chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions today called on Belarusian authorities to immediately cease the harassment of human rights activists, including Ales Bialiatski.
31.08.2011 Well-known Czech human rights defenders sign personal guarantee for Ales Bialiatski
A number of famous public figures and human rights activists signed personal guarantees for the arrested Chair of the Human Rights Center Viasna Ales Bialiatski. All in all, 54 such papers were passed by them.
26.08.2011 Zhodzina resident fined for attack on human rights defender
On 22 August, Zhodzina town court fined local resident Mr. Yakautsou BYR 350,000 on charges of attacking human rights defender Aliaksei Lapitsi with a knife back on 29 July.
15.08.2011 Homel human rights defender demands to prosecute local judge
On 11 August, Homel human rights defender Anatol Paplauny submitted an application to Belarus’ Prosecutor General Ryhor Vasilevich, urging the official to initiate criminal proceedings against judge Alena Tsalkova, the BelaPAN news agency reports.
12.08.2011 FIDH President addresses Lithuanian Prime Minister on Bialiatski's case
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 (OMCT), condemns the ongoing arbitrary detention of Mr. Ales Bialatski, FIDH Vice-President and President of the Belarusian Human Rights Centre "Viasna".
12.08.2011 Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders addresses Belarusian authorites on Bialiatski's arrest
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 (OMCT), has received new information and requests your intervention in the following situation in Belarus.
11.08.2011 German Ambassador paid a visit to HRC Viasna
On 11 August, Christof Weil, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Belarus, paid a visit to the office of the Human Rights Center Viasna. He said words of support to the family and friends of Ales Bialiatski, as well as to his colleagues from the Human Rights Center Viasna.
11.08.2011 Nobel Prize holder Shirin Ebadi joins campaign of support to Ales Bialiatski
On 10 August well-known Iranian human rights activist and lawyer Shirin Ebadi, awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, joined the campaign in support of Ales Bialiatski, launched by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in cooperation with the Human Rights Centre Viasna.
11.08.2011 Belarusian PEN-Center supports Ales Bialiatski
The statement that was issued by the council of the Belarusian PEN-Center on 10 August, reads: “Ales Bialiatski is an outstanding public figure, one of the founders of the literary association Tuteishyia and a member of the Belarusian PEN-Center. The civil association Human Rights Center Viasna, established by him in 1996, has defended the values set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus since the very beginning, supporting the people who were arrested during mass protests and their families.
11.08.2011 Ruling about fine to human rights defender Sviatlana Rudkouskaya left standing
On 1 August the administrative case against a member of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Sviatlana Rudkouskaya was reviewed without her participation. The new ruling, signed by the Deputy Chair of the Leninski District Police Department of Hrodna Vital Stasiukevich was copied from the earlier one.
11.08.2011 Biaroza: human rights defenders intend to hold a picket in support of Ales Bialiatski
Human rights defenders addressed the Biaroza District Executive Committee asking to permit them holding a picket at 6-7 p.m. on 24 August 2011 in the officially allowed place, the town stadium.
11.08.2011 Belarusian Helsinki Committee can be closed too
The Justice Ministry of Belarus threatens to use severe measures of responsibility against the Belarusian Helsinki Committee. The Ministry pointed the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) at the necessity to follow requirements of the law, and in particular, the right of citizens of Belarus and foreign citizens to know full, reliable and unbiased information, the message posted on the website of the ministry reads.
11.08.2011 Foreign human rights organizations address Prosecutor General to release Ales Bialiatski
To: Nikolai Nikolaevich Kulik, Prosecutor General of the City of Minsk Copied: Division of Preliminary Investigations in the Department of Financial Investigation for the Minsk District and the city of Minsk
10.08.2011 People readily express solidarity with Ales Bialiatski
Belarusian citizens were quite active even on the very first day of collecting pledges for bailing out the head of the HRC Viasna, which is the fifth day of Ales’s detention in the remand prison. It is very touching that among those who visited the office of HRC Viasna on 9 August there are not only well-known human rights defenders, journalists and victims of political repression who had received support from Viasna, but also ordinary people who learned about the situation from mass media. People also keep phoning from different regions of Belarus saying they want to send their pledges by mail.
10.08.2011 United Civil Party calls to consolidation with human rights defenders
The Political Council of the United Civil Party states that the criminal persecution of human rights defender Ales Bialiatski has a clear political background.
