The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for November 2013

05.11.2013 EU Heads of Missions Visit Kurapaty and Trastsyanets

It has become a tradition for the diplomats to gather at the sites on or around Dzyady, Remembrance of Ancestors Day, to honour the memory of the victims.

04.11.2013 Human rights defenders consider the sentence to Yury Rubtsou as politically motivated revenge

On 4 November the Savetski District Court of Minsk sentenced the participant of the mass event “Dziady" (“Forefathers Eve") Yury Rubtsou to three-day administrative arrest. Judge Dzmitry Pauliuchenka, having considered the administrative case of the opposition activist, found him guilty of "insubordination" to police officers (Article 23.4 of the Administrative Code).

04.11.2013 HRC “Viasna” starts a new stage of the monitoring of the penitentiary system

The Human Rights Center "Viasna" announces the beginning of a new stage of the monitoring of penitentiary institutions in the Republic of Belarus.

04.11.2013 Victims of political repressions commemorated on “Dziady”

Like every year, community activists gathered on Kabyliatskaya mountain near Orsha. This is the second officially recognized place of execution of civilians in the 1930s and 1950s (the first is the Kurapaty forest in Minsk).

04.11.2013 Yury Rubtsou sentenced to 3 days of arrest for “insubordination to police”

On 4 November , an opposition activist Yury Rubtsou, detained while taking part in the yesterday's “Dziady” (“Forefathers Eve”) demonstration, was taken to the Savetski District Court of Minsk and charged underArticle 23.4 of the Administrative Code .

04.11.2013 "Dziady" rally held in Minsk

A traditional procession and rally in Kurapaty in the memory of the ancestors who died during the Bolshevik terror, was held in Minsk on 3 November to mark “Dziady” (“Forefathers Eve”). The monitoring of the action was held by members of the HRC “Viasna” with the participation of Belarusian Helsinki Committee and other volunteers.

02.11.2013 Palina Stsepanenka: It seemed to me they would shoot us all...

Human rights activist and writer Palina Stsepanenka-Kachatkova recalls Dziady in 1988 and the human rights advocacy at the time.

02.11.2013 November opens with a new trial in Zhodzina

From 10 to 12.40 a.m. on November 1 the first hearing concerning the prohibition of a picket in support of Ales Bialiatski and other political prisoners took place at the Zhodzina City Court.

02.11.2013 Where are satellite antennas banned in Salihorsk?

The Salihorsk human rights activists came across the ruling of the Salihorsk District Executive Committee " On the prohibition of installation of engineering equipment on the facades of houses" at the website of the National Legal Internet Portal. According to the law, the ruling was to have been published in the district newspaper “Shakhtsior”, but they didn't manage to find it there.

02.11.2013 Brest citizens continue struggling for preservation of a house with the status of a historical and cultural value

New circumstances appeared in the case of the eviction of citizens from house No. 10 in Astrouski Street after receiving a letter from the Ministry of Culture.

02.11.2013 Babruisk: blogger Aleh Zhalnou punished with a fine

In the evening on 1 November Judge Natallia Charapukha finished the trial of Aleh Zhalnou and punished him with a fine of 20 basic units.

01.11.2013 Printing house “Karandash” refuses to print map of the Uskhodniya cemetery, alleging that Radio “Liberty” is extremist

On the eve of the Ancestor's Commemoration Day, Radio “Liberty” prepared a map of the Uskhodniya cemetery, “Belarusian Necropolis”, indicating 50 graves of prominent Belarusians who dedicated their lives to the Belarusian culture, language and statehood. However, the printing house “Karandash” in Minsk considered its anti-state propaganda and refused to accept the order for its printing.

01.11.2013 BCD activist achieves the removal of the Russian flag from the bus cab

An activist of the organizing committee of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Ales Kutasau, who asked the driver of the bus “Kalodzishchy-Minsk” to remove the flag of the Russian Federation from the front window,” was detained in Minsk.

01.11.2013 Mahiliou human rights defenders continue appealing against the prohibition of the picket in support of Ales Bialiatski

The appropriate appeal against the verdict of the Leninski District Court of Mahiliou, the ruling of the Mahiliou Regional Executive Committee "On Mass Events in Mahiliou" and the letter of the main bureau on the ideology, culture and youth affairs of the Mahiliou Regional Executive Committee, which rejected the appeal against the picket ban, was filed to the judicial board on civil cases of the Mahiliou Regional Court.

01.11.2013 Problems of the disabled are discussed in Brest

The event was a part of the information campaign "Availability", arranged by the educational human rights institution "Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities".