Over the course of the last few days, a number of individuals and organizations, including the MEP Henryk Migalski, have called on Amnesty International to recognise Syarhei Kavalenka as a prisoner of conscience. This statement explains why Amnesty International has not been able to do so.
The organization continues to monitor the situation of the political prisoner. MEP Marek Migalski received this information from John Dalhuisen, Director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International. The text of the letter can be found on migalski.eu website.
The Conference Committee on the Application of Standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO) will look at violations of trade union rights in Belarus at a meeting to take place in Geneva between June 4 and 9.
On April 2, 2012, 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), submitted the case of Mr. Ales Bialiatski to the United Nations (UN) Working group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD).
“The release of political prisoners Andrei Sannikau and Zmitser Bandarenka, following 16 months of incarceration, is a step in the right direction. The Government of Belarus must take the next step and immediately and unconditionally release all of the remaining political prisoners, including Mikalai Statkevich, Ales Bialiatski, Syarhei Kavalenka, Zmitser Dashkevich, Pavel Seviarynets, Mikalai Autukhovich, Eduard Lobau, Mikalai Dziadok and others, and guarantee the full restoration of their civil and political rights," said Representative Chris Smith, Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission.
A decision to release two Belarusian prisoners of conscience including an opposition presidential candidate is a step in the right direction but the government now needs to free five others who have been in jail since 2011, Amnesty International said.
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