12.08.2016 Invitation to press-conference on election progress
The Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections civil campaign announces a press conference to be held at 12:00, August 15 in the office of the HRC "Viasna" at the address: 8-26 vulitsa Miarzhynskaha.
10.08.2016 Human rights defenders recognize Uladzimir Kondrus political prisoner
We reaffirm our position, which is that the actions of Uladzimir Kondrus cannot be categorized under Art. 293 of the Criminal Code, while the statute of limitations of other articles of the Criminal Code, under which they could have been qualified, has already expired.
09.08.2016 OSCE ODIHR mission meets with Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections
On August 8, the office of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" hosted a meeting of the OSCE ODIHR election observation mission with representatives of the Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections domestic observation campaign.
08.08.2016 Weekly Analytical Report: August 1-7
As in earlier elections, observers of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” were, in most cases, denied the opportunity to observe the verification of signatures submitted in support of nominations.
03.08.2016 Another person charged over December 2010 post-election riot
Uladzimir Kondrus, a resident of the town of Rudziensk, Minsk region, is held in custody at jail No. 1 in Minsk, according to information received by the Human Rights Center "Viasna".
02.08.2016 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: July 2016
The Prosecutor General's Office completed the investigation into the case of prison doctor and Interior Ministry officer Aliaksandr Krylou, who is accused of professional misconduct resulting in the death of Ihar Ptsichkin in jail No. 1 in August 2013.
31.07.2016 Analytical Report on the Formation of Precinct Election Commissions
The absence of legislatively fixed criteria for candidates to election commissions still results in a highly partial approach to the personal composition of these commissions.
25.07.2016 Weekly Analytical Report: July 18-24
The process of collecting signatures is once again accompanied by abuse of administrative resources, but not as extensively as in earlier elections.
22.07.2016 Viasna calls to end harassment of Andrei Bandarenka and Mikhail Zhamchuzhny in prison
Ales Bialiatski, chairman of the Human Rights Center "Viasna", has sent a petition to the Minister of the Interior and the Prosecutor General, urging the officials to put an end to the harassment of human rights defenders Andrei Bandarenka and Mikhail Zhamchuzhny currently serving their sentences in Mahilioŭ and Navasady.
22.07.2016 UN Human Rights Committee registers complaint of Henadz Yakavitski, asks for respite
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has registered an individual communication submitted on behalf of Henadz Yakavitski, who was sentenced to death on 5 January for murdering his partner back in July 2015.
19.07.2016 ‘Political qualities’ to prevail when selecting candidates to precinct elections commissions
The current election campaign is no exception: the election commissions are likely to have only loyal members. Lawyer Pavel Sapelka has commented on the recent response by the CEC head to his proposal to abandon such criteria ‘political qualities’ in the selection of members of the PECs.
14.07.2016 Azimjan Askarov Case: decision of Supreme Court nowhere near implementation of UN Views
Paris-Geneva, July 13, 2016 - Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan ordered a fresh appeal hearing before the Chuy Regional Court in Bishkek in the case of human rights defender Azimjan Askarov, and left his life sentence conviction unchanged, FIDH said. Azimjan Askarov remains behind bars in blatant violation of the Views of the UN Human Rights Committee (CCPR), which concluded on April 21 that “Kyrgyzstan must take appropriate steps to immediately release him”.
11.07.2016 Report on the registration of nomination groups
The process of registration of nomination groups (initiative groups) of candidates for the House of Representatives was more democratic than that during the previous election campaign.
11.07.2016 26 NGOs Call for Release of Bahraini Human Rights Defender Nabeel Rajab
Tomorrow, 12 July 2016, the trial of the prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab begins. Facing charges related to comments on the social media website Twitter, Rajab may be sentenced to more than ten years in prison.
08.07.2016 Human rights activists criticize CEC head over ‘political qualities’
The term of ‘political qualities’, which has no explanation in the electoral law, but remains an important criterion for the selection of candidates to the election commissions, should be removed from the CEC’s Decision No. 18, says Pavel Sapelka, analyst of the campaign Human Rights Defenders For Free Elections.
