19.03.2015 Why are Belarusians cowed by the death penalty?
According to Ales Bialiatski, Aliaksandr Lukashenka is in no hurry to reform the law, primarily because he identifies today’s Belarus with the BSSR and the Soviet Union, where the death penalty was widespread.
17.03.2015 BELARUS: The only registered regional human rights organisation under the threat of dissolution
Joint statement by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, the Human Rights Center "Viasna" and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee on a lawsuit to close down the Mahiliou Human Rights Center, which will be heard in the Mahiliou Regional Court on March 17.
03.03.2015 The Human Rights Council should continue to take responsibility regarding the Human Rights situation in Belarus
The human rights situation in Belarus continues to be characterized by serious, widespread and systematic violations. In the words of the UN Special Rapporteur, Miklós Haraszti, violations in the country have a “systemic and systematic” character.
27.02.2015 Valiantsin Stefanovich: Release of political prisoners out of question
Deputy Head of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" Valiantsin Stefanovich has commented on the results of the trial of Mikalai Dziadok, which ended yesterday in a prison in Mahiliou.
27.02.2015 Ales Bialiatski becomes honorary citizen of Syracuse
On February 26, the municipal authorities of Syracuse (Italian region of Sicily) awarded Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski the title of honorary citizenship of Syracuse, the “city of peace and human rights”.
25.02.2015 Ales Bialiatski: Voice of human rights defenders working for peace must be heard (video)
Ales Bialiatski, leader of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, spoke yesterday at the presentation of Amnesty International’s annual report in Rome. The event was organized by Amnesty’s national office.
24.02.2015 EU not to ignore human rights violations in Belarus
Deputy Head of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Valiantsin Stefanovich has told about his today’s meeting with representatives of the European Union’s European External Action Service, which took place on 24 February at the European Commission’s office in Minsk.
20.02.2015 Ales Bialiatski tells Latvian Foreign Minister about Belarusian political prisoners
On 20 February, the Embassy of the Republic of Latvia hosted a meeting of representatives of the Belarusian civil society with the Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Edgars Rinkēvičs. The meeting was attended by representatives of human rights organizations, including the chairman of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Ales Bialiatski.
19.02.2015 Ales Bialiatski: Prison system totally rotten, no political will to reform it
The leader of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” and former political prisoner Ales Bialiatski is critical of the conclusions voiced by his colleagues from the organization Platforma Innovation following a series of inspections carried out in the country’s prisons and detention facilities, Radio Liberty’s Belarus service reports.
16.02.2015 Viasna activists meet with representatives of Norwegian PEN Center (video)
On 16 February, William Nygaard, President of the Norwegian PEN Center, and writer Erling Kitelsen visited the office of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, where they discussed the human rights situation in Belarus with Viasna leaders.
27.01.2015 Human rights situation in 2014: Trends and evaluation
The situation of human rights during 2014 remained consistently poor with a tendency to deterioration at the end of the year. Human rights violations were of both systemic and systematic nature: basic civil and political rights were extremely restricted, there were no systemic changes in the field of human rights (at the legislative level and (or) at the level of practices).
22.01.2015 Human rights organizations demand an immediate cessation of the criminal prosecution of political prisoner Mikalai Dziadok and his release from jail
FIDH, HRC "Viasna" and BHC express deep concern with the serious threats to the life and health of Mikalai Dziadok and emphasize that the entire responsibility for his safety and protection lies with the administration of the prison No. 4 in Mahiliou and the management of the Department of Corrections of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus.
15.01.2015 Pavel Sapelka about the "anti-drug" decree: “Such measures were to have been taken some 15 years - 20 ago”
According to the Decree of the President of №6 "On Urgent Measures to Combat Drug Trafficking" which came into effect on January 1 the government should adopt a comprehensive action plan including effective measures to combat drug trafficking, prevent the use of drugs and provide social rehabilitation of drug addicts. According to the Decree of the President of №6 "On Urgent Measures to Combat Drug Trafficking" which came into effect on January 1 the government should adopt a comprehensive action plan including effective measures to combat drug trafficking, prevent the use of drugs and provide social rehabilitation of drug addicts.
08.01.2015 Ales Bialiatski: free speech is killed in many different ways
January 8, Head of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" Ales Bialiatski and his colleagues came to the French Embassy in Minsk, to lay flowers and light a candle in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack in the editorial office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which took place the day before in Paris.
06.01.2015 Ales Bialiatski: In many respects, an optimistic scenario in 2015 depends on the activeness of Belarusians
The head of the Human Rights Centre "Viasna" and Vice-President of the International Federation for Human Rights spoke about his mood and forecasts for the new year.
