The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for November 2015

16.11.2015 FIDH: "These despicable attacks are directed at all of humanity"

FIDH and its French member organisation, LDH (Ligue des droits de l’Homme et du citoyen), firmly and unequivocally condemn the terrorist attacks that took place during the night of 13-14 November 2015 in Paris and Saint Denis.

13.11.2015 Censors read opposition activist’s correspondence with Human Rights Committee

Opposition activist Illia Dabratvor says he has found in his mailbox a letter sent to him from the United Nations Human Rights Committee. It contained information relating to the objections of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry to a complaint filed by the activist. The envelope had been opened and had no postal stamps on it, says he.

12.11.2015 Viasna seeks details in case of Mikhail Zhamchuzhny

The Human Rights Center “Viasna” has written to the Chairman of the Supreme Court asking to disclose details of the criminal case of Mikhail Zhamchuzhny, a co-founder of the Platform Innovation NGO, who stood trial behind closed doors.

12.11.2015 MFA: International rules met in death convict’s case

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has replied to Andrei Paluda, coordinator of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders Against the Death Penalty in Belarus”, who earlier notified the MFA about the registration of an individual communication submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on behalf of Siarhei Ivanou, a resident of Rečyca sentenced to death in March 2015.

11.11.2015 Biaroza officials refuse to provide information on election results

“The Biaroza district executive committee sees no reason to provide the results of voting at each polling station,” says a response received by observers Siarhei Rusetski and Tamara Shchapiotkina.

11.11.2015 State Border Committee Chairman: “Attempts to politicize searches are means of exerting pressure on officials”

Siarhei Maltsau, Chairman of the State Border Committee, has published a post on the department’s official website in response to the complaints of citizens in the framework of a campaign “Stop the outrage on the border: Support human rights defenders”.

11.11.2015 UN Secretary-General: "I Will Never Stop Calling for an End to the Death Penalty"

Calling the punishment "simply wrong," United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has vowed to "never stop calling for an end to the death penalty." Speaking at the launch of a new book by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, "Moving Away from the Death Penalty: Arguments, Trends and Perspectives," the Secretary-General highlighted the worldwide decline of capital punishment, noting that "more and more countries and States are abolishing the death penalty."

10.11.2015 Ukrainian journalists accused of taking ‘extremist’ books in Belarus

The unfortunate incident happened at the Ukraine-Belarus border. Oleksandr Doniy and his colleagues working for the programme ‘Last Barricade’ aired by Ukrainian Central TV channel were going to Vilnius through Belarus. They were detained and kept within 5 hours, Doniy said on Facebook.

10.11.2015 Lidziya Yarmoshyna: Observers should enjoy exercisable right to observe vote count

Tamara Shchapiotkina, an observer from Biaroza, received yesterday a letter from the Central Election Commission sent in response to her complaint. The CEC chair Lidziya Yarmoshyna says that the observer knows “the position of the Central Election Commission on the matters raised in the complaint.” “It ensures the need of the observer to enjoy an exercisable right to observe the counting of votes.”

10.11.2015 1,000 copies of Vital Silitski's book destroyed

Book of political scientist Vital Silitski "The Long Road from Tyranny: Post-. Communist Authoritarianism and Struggle for Democracy in Serbia and Belarus" was released by the ARCHE journal publishing house in October 2015.

09.11.2015 Activist appeals unlawful detention and beating

Andrei Kavalchuk, an opposition activist in Brest, has written to the Investigative Committee to complain about an incident of November 6, when he was detained by police officers and taken to the police station.

09.11.2015 FIDH calls on French President to fight for release of Leyla Yunus

Karim Lahidji, FIDH President, Sidiki Kaba and Michel Blum, both FIDH Honorary Presidents have been promoted in the National Order of the Legion of Honour today, Friday 6 November 2015, by President François Hollande at the Elysee Palace.

07.11.2015 Prosecutor asks to execute defendant in murder trial in Hrodna

On November 5, the Hrodna Regional Court heard the case of Ivan Kulesh, a resident of Lida district accused of triple murder, theft and robbery. As a result of the hearing, the prosecutor asked to punish the defendant with the capital punishment.

05.11.2015 Liabedzka To Stand Another Trial

The new trial over the events in front of the KGB headquarters is scheduled for November 12.

05.11.2015 Activist in Akciabrski fined over protest against election fraud

The District Court of Akciabrski, a town in Homieĺ region, has fined Alena Lutskovich, leader of the United Civil Party’s Young Democrats youth wing and an observer in this year’s presidential election, 2.7 mln rubles for staging a protest on October 30, when the activist displayed a poster saying “I have proofs that the election was rigged!”