The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

News for February 2016

04.02.2016 Viciebsk (Mikhasevich's) case

May 19, 1987, Judicial board on criminal cases of the Supreme Court of the USSR, presided by Judge Fedor Savkin, with state prosecutors – Senior Assistant Attorney General of the USSR Sergei Samoilov and assistant prosecutor of the Minsk region Uladzimir Panfiliuk, found Henadz Mikhasevich guilty of murder of 36 women on the territory of the Vicitebsk region in 1971-1985. Some of the women were also raped. Mikhasevich was sentenced to death and didn't appeal the sentence. He was executed on January 19, 1988.

04.02.2016 Vatican

Since the Vatican was a part of Rome, the practice of the death penalty was spread on it both during the Inquisition, and in the period of its decline. Like everywhere in Italy, the death penalty was executed by secular authorities, and used to be approved by the Holy See since its inception. There are many works of religious leaders, starting with Aurelius Augustine "The City of God" (written in 413-427), that approved of the imposition and execution of death sentences by secular authorities.

04.02.2016 UN Human Rights Committee registers complaint by freelance journalist Ales Burakou

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has registered a complaint submitted by Ales Burakou, a freelance journalist working with a number of media in Mahilioŭ. However, according to the journalist, the envelope had been apparently opened by unknown persons before it reached him.

04.02.2016 Journalist Kanstantsin Zhukouski fined again

The Court of Buda-Kašaliova district sentenced freelance journalist Kanstantsin Zhukouski to a fine of 8.4 million rubles for shooting a report about unpaid holidays at a local dairy. As a result, he was accused of illegal journalistic activities.

03.02.2016 Zhanna Litvina and Ales Bialiatski meet with EU representatives in Brussels

Ales Bialiatski, Chairman of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" and Vice-President of the International Federation for Human Rights, together with Zhanna Litvina, ex-chair and Board member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, have met in Brussels with Helga Schmid, Deputy Secretary General for the European External Action Service, and Stavros Lambrinidis, EU Special Representative for Human Rights, as well as a number of ambassadors of European countries to the European Union and other EU representatives in charge of human rights issues and European neighborhood policy.

03.02.2016 Freelance journalist Natallia Kryvashei complains to UN Human Rights Committ

Natallia Kryvashei, a freelance journalist in Homieĺ, has filed a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee to challenge a violation of her right to receive and disseminate information. The complaint refers to a number of cases of 2015 when the journalist was convicted of illegal production of media products for the satellite TV channel "Belsat" without government accreditation.

02.02.2016 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: January 2016

The month was marked by certain negative trends, indicating the deterioration of the human rights situation in comparison with the last three months of 2015.

02.02.2016 Academy of Music’s Student: Riot Policemen Beat Me Senseless

The nose and a leg of a student Kastus Akhromenka were broken by policemen, for the student was speaking Belarusian.

02.02.2016 Monitoring report on the mass event on January 30, 2016 in Minsk

The mass event on January 30, 2016 was observed personally and continuously by five observers who had been trained accordingly and marked with badges.