#FreeViasna: Weekly news digest on Viasna’s imprisoned human rights defenders
On September 21, #FreeViasna campaign of solidarity with the imprisoned Viasna members was launched. Here’s the latest news about them.
Valiantsin Stefanovich: “I've remembered it for a lifetime, this feeling of human dignity”
Human rights defender Valiantsin Stefanovich told about his path to the Belarusian language in one of his letters:
“I myself started speaking Belarusian more or less regularly around 1996, and it was not my first language, like for most people of my generation. [...]
I remember somewhere around 1988, when I was 15–16 years old, my older cousin, a student, took me to a meeting of the informal youth organization Talaka. It was there that I saw young people speaking beautiful Belarusian for the first time!
[...] I was just blown away, it was like an electric shock! I've remembered it for a lifetime, that feeling of some kind of pride, a sense of human dignity.”
Stefanovich also notes that there is no special news for him, he is expecting an extension of his custody on March 14.
“No one bothers me with the case, because I do not testify, and I do not admit guilt. I suppose that sometime in May the case may be completed, and I will start to read the materials of the investigation,” said the human rights defender.
There was no news from lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich and the head of Viasna Ales Bialiatski last week.
Yet let us recall the words of Ales Bialiatski during his speech at the Second World Human Rights Forum, which took place in Morocco on November 27, 2014.
“Our strength, the strength of the 'powerless', as Czech president and human rights activist Vaclav Havel once called dissidents and human rights defenders, lies in fearlessness and solidarity.
Dear friends, let’s stand in solidarity! Let's stick together! Let’s keep our eyes open! And then it will be easier for us to change this world for the better!”
Marfa Rabkova: “The sun is warm and smiling, and it makes me feel better.”
Marfa Rabkova, the coordinator of Vesna's Volunteer Service, sent a letter where she shared her latest news.
The human rights defender notes that her trial won't begin until April:
“Uncertainty is nearing its end, but there are still several months ahead of me in this institution. The trials will start only in April, and by my calculations, I planned to enter the judicial epic in March. I will take the advice and won't jump to any conclusions. There is a quote from Harry Potter that suits perfectly to the situation:
‘Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect’.”
Marfa Rabkova notes that she got sick in January, but now she's doing well:
“And the air in the center of Minsk is so spring! The sun is warm and smiling, and it makes me feel better. I am strengthening my faith that everything will be fine, everything is going as it should.”
Unfortunately, there was no news last week from volunteer Andrei Chapyuk, head of the Homieĺ branch of Viasna Leanid Sudalenka, and from Rechytsa volunteer Tatsiana Lasitsa.
