Actions in support of Ales Bialiatski
On 5 September actions of solidarity with the arrested
head of the Human Rights Center Viasna Ales Bialiatski took place near
the Embassies of Belarus in Stockholm, Moscow, Kyiv, Vilnius, Yerevan and other
cities.
In Stockholm
the picketers held posters with the inscription Freedom to Ales Bialiatski in
Belarusian and Swedish. Martin Uggla, Chair of the human rights initiative Östgruppen
delivered a speech, after which the action participants wanted to pass the
Belarusian Ambassador Andrei Hrynkevich a letter with the demands to release
Bialiatski. However, the Embassy refused to accept the letter, that's why it
was thrown into the postbox.
The picket in Moscow
wasn't authorized by the local authorities. That's why the organizers held a
series of one-man pickets, replacing one another every 5 minutes. They
collected signatures under an address to the Belarusian Ambassador Vasil
Dauhaliou. In an hour human rights defender Yuri Jibladze passed the address
and the signatures to the Belarusian Embassy.
7 people took part in the action in Yerevan.
Human rights defender Michael Danielyan passed the address with the demand to
release Ales Bialiatski to the first secretary of the Belarusian Embassy, Mr.
Harelka.
In Lithuania,
street actions with less than 10 participants don't require preliminary
agreement of the authorities. That's why 9 people took part in the picket in
support of Ales Bialiatski in Vilnius.
