Valiantsin Stefanoviс re-elected as FIDH vice-president

Delegates from 12 countries showed their support to jailed Belarusian human rights defenders at the 41st FIDH Congress in Paris.

On October 27, Belarusian human rights defender Valiantsin Stefanovic was re-elected to the office of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) Vice-President at the 41st Congress of FIDH.   

Political prisoner and Viasna human rights defender Valiantsin Stefanovic has been FIDH Vice-President since 2019. On October 41, the 41st session of the Congress of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) began in Paris. During the opening of the Congress, portraits of jailed Viasna members were displayed in the front row, and FIDH Eastern Europe and Central Asia Department Head Ilya Nuzov read Valiantsin’s letter that the defender wrote in prison.

“I would like to thank my brothers and sisters human rights defenders for their solidarity and support for all jailed human rights defenders around the world, and, of course, for me personally. Solidarity in our community is a powerful force, and I believe that soon I will be able to join you to walk together on this difficult path toward world harmony, love, and peace,” Valiantsin Stefanovic noted.

During the event, delegates from Vietnam, the USA, Armenia, Moldova, Belarus, Belgium, Russia, France, Colombia, Norway, Kazakhstan, and Botswana supported the imprisoned Viasna members. At the opening, the President of France Emmanuel Macron and Paris deputy mayor also mentioned the Human Rights Center Viasna and its founder, political prisoner Ales Bialiatski, who, together with the Russian Human Rights Center Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, won the Nobel Peace Prize this year.