The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for December 2013

20.12.2013 Courts refuse to consider complaint of discrimination based on union affiliation

The Judicial Board on Civil Cases of the Brest Regional Court on December 19 was expected to consider a complaint of the trade union of electronic industry in the interests of its member Aliaksandr Sakharuk. The trade union’s lawyers asked to annul the conditions of his employment agreement and to eliminate discrimination at work.

20.12.2013 Observatory condemns censorship of Viasna website

The Observatory has been informed of the continued harassment of the Belarusian Human Rights Centre Viasna.

20.12.2013 Catherine Ashton calls on Belarus to join global moratorium on the death penalty

The spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission, issued the following statement today: "The High Representative regrets the death sentence recently handed down to an individual by the Minsk Regional Court. She hopes that his right to appeal will be fully exercised."

20.12.2013 UN Committee: Belarus should abolish forced labour

Belarus should abolish compulsory labour and ensure adequate protection of workers. This, among other important recommendations, was put forward by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) following its review of Belarus in November 2013.

19.12.2013 “Champions of civil society” to be awarded on December 23

The fifth annual awards ceremony of the Assembly of Democratic NGOs “Champions of Civil Society” will be held on December 23 in Minsk. The prize will be awarded to outstanding individuals, organizations and events that have been essential to the development of the Belarusian third sector in 2013.

19.12.2013 Police search apartment of BCD activist in Baranavichy

The police Baranavichy searched last evening the apartment of Artsiom Babei, local activist of the Belarusian Christian Democracy, the BCD press-service reports quoting its coordinator in the Brest region Zmitser Shurkhai.

19.12.2013 FIDH and the Human Rights Center Viasna Demand the Immediate and Unconditional Release of Mikola Statkevich and Other Political Prisoners

A joint statement by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Human Rights Center "Viasna" on the occasion of the third anniversary of the imprisonment of the 2010 presidential candidate Mikola Statkevich.

18.12.2013 Action Required: Support Freelance Journalists in Belarus

The European Fedeartion of Journalists supports BAJ's efforts aimed at introducing a legal status for freelance journalists in the Belarusian media law.

18.12.2013 Authorities ban picket to support EuroMaidan

Pickets of solidarity with Ukrainians were banned in several Belarusian towns.

18.12.2013 Independent weekly in Slonim faces eviction

The company “Partner-Slonim Ltd.”, which owns the premises rented by a local independent weekly, Hazeta Slonimskaya, requests that the office should be vacated by January 1, 2014, the press-service of the Belarusian Association of Journalists reports.

18.12.2013 Ales Makajeu will be put on trial

The entrepreneur will be put on trial for an event of Slutsk Military Rebellion’s commemoration.

18.12.2013 Information about torture in KGB jail is “state secret”

Upon release from the KGB detention center in March 2011 former presidential candidate Ales Mikhalevich reported numerous facts of abuse and torture, and filed a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office urging the officials to investigate the allegations.

18.12.2013 Nabeel Rajab wrote to Ales Bialiatski

From Jaw prison in Bahrain, Nabeel Rajab wrote to Ales Bialiatski, FIDH Vice-President, who has been imprisoned for more than 2 years in Belarus.

18.12.2013 Brest authorities ban march in support of Ukraine's pro-EU protest

The organizers of the march were local representatives of the United Civil Party, who were going to express their solidarity with the Ukrainian people in their desire to live in the European Union.

18.12.2013 Hrodna: another BAJ member warned by Prosecutor

On December 17, Andrei Mialeshka, Hrodna member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, was summoned to the city’s Prosecutor's Office. The journalist was questioned by Deputy Division Chief of Hrodna Regional Prosecutor’s Office Valery Paviadaika. It concerned a report on the site of the Belarusian Radio Racyja under the pseudonym Ihar Mikalayeu that covered a memorial action held on October 27 to mark the anniversary of the 1863 anti-Russian uprising.