The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for October 2009

15.10.2009 BSDP ‘Hramada’ lost its Minsk office

The Belarusian Social Democratic Party Hramada was obliged to vacate the premises by verdict of the Supreme Court. BelaPAN learnt about this the from deputy head of the party Anatol Sidarevich.

15.10.2009 Review-Chronicle of Human Rights Violations in Belarus in September 2009

September closed the additional six-month test period the Belarusian authorities were given for starting democratic transformations in the country. Meanwhile, no significant steps were made for improving the situation of human rights in Belarus. The fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of consciousness remained restricted. On 24 September, at a briefing for representatives of international missions and journalists, the Assembly of pro-Democratic NGOs gave a preliminary evaluation to the activities of the Belarusian authorities on normalization of the situation of NGOs for the previous six months. Siarhei Matskevich, Chairperson of the Working group of the Assembly of NGOs, stated the absence of progress on the three points set for by the European Union: the abolition of Article 193.1 of the Criminal Code, the abolition of the death penalty, the resolution of the problem of non-registration of civil organizations and introduction of a reduced-price office rent tariff for them.

15.10.2009 Pukhavichy authorities create obstacles to ‘Maryinahorskaya Hazeta’

KGB presses on entrepreneurs cooperating with independent mass media. A private entrepreneur from Maryina Horka (the Pukhavichy district) has to cancel the rental contract with Maryinahorskaya Hazeta under pressure of the local authorities. On 2 October the newspaper submitted the document for registration to the Ministry of Information.

14.10.2009 How elderly women picked mushrooms violating the law

The Assembly of Pro-democratic NGOs continues its campaign Stop 193.1, pressing for the elimination of the disgraceful Article 193.1 from the Criminal Code of Belarus which envisages criminal punishment for activities on behalf of ‘unregistered organizations’. Recently a number of cartoons making fun of the absurdity of this article have been uploaded to the website of the organization.

14.10.2009 Baranavichy: civil activists get fined for collecting signatures

The court of Baranavichy and Baranavichy district found two activists of the ‘4th sector’ campaign guilty of violating Article 17.1 (petty hooliganism) and were fined 70 000 rubles (about $25) each.

14.10.2009 Fined for rally that didn't take place

On 13 October the Chyhunachny district court of Homel tried 7 pro-democratic activists. As BelaPAN informs, on 16 September 16 oppositionists planned to hold a rally of solidarity with the families of the abducted, but were detained by police on their way to the place where the event was held. As a result, the rally hadn’t taken place.

14.10.2009 OSCE is disappointed with absence of progress in electoral system of Belarus

Janez Lenarcic, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, sees no interest of the Belarusian authorities in liberalizing the Electoral Code.

14.10.2009 Kazulin and Liabedzka get searched on Lithuanian border

The Former presidential candidate Aliaksandr Kazulin and the leader of the United Civil Party Anatol Liabedzka were detained at the border crossing point Kamenny Loh.

13.10.2009 Aleh Alkayeu speaks about abduction of Belarusian politicians in interview to ‘Salidarnasts’

Aleh Alkayeu’s book Firing Squad includes a number of testimonies that the Belarusian authorities are implicated in abductions of political opponents of the current regime.

13.10.2009 Information on torture of participants of peaceful actions passed to international organizations

The Human Rights Center Viasna collected information about the facts of tortures and inhuman treatment of the detained participants of the peaceful actions held on 9 and 16 September 2009. The lawyers also prepared 6 complaints to the Tsentralny district prosecutor’s office of Minsk against the unlawful police actions and questioned some eyewitnesses of the tortures.

13.10.2009 Death convict Yuzepchuk has some hope again

On 12 October 2009 the UN Human Rights Committee registered the individual address of Vasil Yuzepchuk, sentenced to death by Brest oblast court, under number 1906/2009. The appropriate information was received from Geneva office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights by the human rights defender Raman Kisliak.

13.10.2009 Minsk: detained for chanting ‘Long Live Belarus!’

On 12 October the member of the Conservative-Christian Party BPF Siarhei Kavalenka was detained by the police.

12.10.2009 ‘They wanted me to confess for more cases, but I said they should stop earning points on me’

A short frail man, looking quite pitifully, was sitting behind the bars in the court hall. What he was saying was sometimes not very understandable. His words showed that he sometimes did not understand well enough what was going on around him.

12.10.2009 Provocation against journalist Henadz Barbarych

Unidentified persons smashed the window in the apartment of the journalist of the Belarusy i Rynak newspaper Henadz Barbarych.

12.10.2009 Lahoisk: policemen are accused of torturing a suspect

Lahoisk district prosecutor’s office has instigated a criminal case against two officers of the local police department. According to the information of the Ezhednevnik, they are accused of torturing a suspect.