The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for August 2011

03.08.2011 Navapolatsk authorities changed their ruling on mass events to ban picket in support of Mikita Likhavid

On 18 July democratic activists, including members of the Belarusian Popular Front Party, the For Freedom movement and the Human Rights Center Viasna applied to the Navapolatsk Town Executive Committee with the request to authorize a picket in support of political prisoner Mikita Likhavid who is subject to constant pressurization in jail.

03.08.2011 Andrei Bandarenka: there is no public control over penal colonies and pre-trial prisons

“We can draw many examples of torture in the Belarusian prisons,” Andrei Bandarenka, a representative of the civil association Platform, who had spent almost two years behind bars for alleged swindle and was released because of “absence of corpus delicti”, stated in his interview with BelSat.

03.08.2011 General Procuracy finished check-up on appeal of European Radio journalists

Nasta Mantsevich, Pavel Sviardlou and Andrei Yeliseyeu, journalists for the European Radio for Belarus which has an official accreditation in Belarus, suffered from unlawful actions of people in mufti during the silent protest actions that were held in Minsk in June-July. Pavel Sviardlou was detained twice.

03.08.2011 Horki: action in support of political prisoner Zmitser Dashkevich ended with detentions

About 30 people arrived to the colony in Horki on 2 August. They demanded that political prisoner Zmitser Dashkevich was allowed to meet with his lawyer. The colony's administration refuses to let the lawyer in until receiving a corresponding request from Dashkevich himself.

03.08.2011 People address Lukashenka asking to mitigate penalty to Zmitser Bandarenka

Public activists held an action “Save Zmitser Bandarenka” in Minsk on 2 August. They lodged personal petitions to the chancellery of the Presidential Administration asking to mitigate the punishment to politician Zmitser Bandarenka.

03.08.2011 Authorities want mother of political prisoner Zmitser Novik to make him beg pardon

The mother of political prisoner Zmitser Novik was offered to persuade her son to write a petition for pardon.

01.08.2011 Homel: KGB returns confiscated equipment in disabled state

During the presidential election 2011 Aleh Karbalevich, a member of the Belarusian Popular Front Party from Rechytsa, worked in the electoral teams of the democratic candidates Ryhor Kastusiou and Uladzimir Niakliayeu.

01.08.2011 Human rights defenders ask for UN Special Rapporteur intervention

Five Belarusian human rights organizations have addressed Gabriela Knaul, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, in connection with the annulment of the licenses to the lawyers who defended figurants of the “19 December mass riot” case.

01.08.2011 Homel: journalist appeals policeman's actions

On 3 July Alena Hermanovich, a journalist for the BelaPAN information agency, was detained by the police at the Pryvakzalnaya Square in Homel. The woman was taken to the police station. During the detention police major Aliaksandr Koshman gave the following order to his subordinates: “Seize her, she is a journalist!”, which means that he deliberately created obstacles to her professional activities.

01.08.2011 'Nasha Niva' got fined 14 million rubles

On 29 July Aliaksandr Karamyshau, Judge of the Minsk City Economic Court, considered the administrative case that had been brought against the private socio-political edition Nasha Niva by the Main Police Department of the Minsk City Executive Committee, and sentenced the newspaper to pay a fine of 14 million rubles.

01.08.2011 Mazyr authorities ban picket in support of Mikita Likhavid

Ales Kavalchuk and Ryhor Kryvitski, civil activists from Mazyr, applied to the Mazyr District Executive Committee to obtain permission for holding a picket in support of political prisoner Mikita Likhavid who is subject to constant pressurization in jail.