Kirghiz human rights defenders remind Belarusian diplomats about Ales Bialiatski’s case
Talekan Ismailova, the head of the human rights
center “Citizens against Corruption” told about the impressions of Kirghiz human rights defenders who tried to
attend the official diplomatic on the occasion of the celebration of the
official Independence Day by Belarus.
The human rights defenders demanded an unconditional and immediate release of the
head of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” and deputy-head of the International
Federation for Human Rights Ales Bialiatski.
“On 4 July an official reception dated to the Independence Day of Belarus took place
in the dearest restaurant of Bishkek, “Toy Kana”.
My colleagues and I came there to express our protest, and many diplomats
looked at us with surprised. They were dressed in festive clothes and they enjoyed
being able to talk to one another, listen to music and try delicatessen.
Some of them stopped, recognizing us and asked about details of our colleague
Ales Bialiatski’s case. We were surprised by Bishkek’s mayor Isa Amurkulov – he
embraced us with a wide smile and asked: “Do you have one more photo of Ales,
so that he could stand near us?”
It was really pleasing to see something changing for the better, at least among
some of the officials…
However, the police kept their duty as usual, providing the security of the
event, and didn’t let us in. The policemen were polite and behaved correctly,
but said that they could lose their job if they let us in, as far as the Embassy
of Belarus asked them to provide security…
We were very surprised by a high official from the Office of the Supreme
Commissioner on Human Rights of the UN, Armen Arutyunyan. On seeing us he just
said: “I see you are always at work…”, after which he quickly got into a car
with diplomatic number plates and drove away… I just managed to say: “But it’s
the UN mandate to protect rights of human rights defenders!”
That’s how the Day of Independence (or dependence) of Belarus went in
Bishkek. While returning home, young lawyers discussed whether there’s the
mandate of the protection of human rights defenders at the UN at all, whether the
Declaration is still alive or is just an instrument of greater politics?”
Talekan Ismailova
We can add that Ales Bialiatski got acquainted with his colleague from Kirghizstan during
his activities within the framework of the International Federation of Human
Rights. In particular, they worked in Bishkek in 2010, when Ales Bialiatski visited
Kirghizstan
as a member of a FIDH research mission following the inter-ethnic conflict in
the south of the country, and in December of the same year, when the report on the
mission’s results was presented in Bishkek.
