A new film in support of Ales Bialiatski (video)

The  trial  against  Mr.  Ales  Bialiatski,  FIDH  Vice-President  and  President  of  the  Human Rights  Center  “Viasna”  (Belarus),  currently  arbitrarily  detained  in  relation  with  his  human rights activities, is presently taking place in Minsk. In many States of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region, human rights defenders are facing similar harsh repression: obstacles to freedoms  of  assembly  and  association,  hindrances  to  NGO  registration,  criminalisation  of unregistered organisations, obstacles of access to funding, judicial harassment and arbitrary detentions.

A six-minute documentary drawing a dark picture of the  situation  of  human  rights  defenders  in  the  Eastern  Europe  and  Central  Asia  is being  released  today  by  the  Observatory  for  the  Protection  of  Human  Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in a context where human rights defenders are confronted to increasing repression.