“Viasna”: central office and property confiscated

At 10 a.m. the office in Nezalezhnasts Street, 78a-48 in Minsk was attended by court marshals, policemen, a cameraman in plain clothes, representatives of public utilities and two witnesses.

The court marshals sealed the apartment. We should remind that for the last 12 years assistance there has been rendered assistance to the repressed and press conferences and other human rights events have been held.

Human rights defenders believe that in such a way the Belarusian authorities “marked
the first anniversary of the delivery of sentence to the head of “Viasna”, Ales Bialiatski. On 24 November 2012 he was sentenced to 4.5 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property for alleged large-scale tax evasion.

Several minutes before the confiscation of the office and assets, the deputy head of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Valiantsin Stefanovich voiced the statement adopted by the organization's Council.

There it is stated that the loss of the office is a serious blow for “Viasna”, but it will not stop its human rights activities. The organization will continue helping those whose rights are violated and monitoring the overall situation of human rights in Belarus.

Not only “Viasna” members, but also colleagues and representatives of friendly organizations came to bid farewell to the office, including Aliaksandr Milinkevich (Movement “For Freedom”), Ina Kulei (the Committee to Protect the Repressed “Solidarity”), Andrei Aliaksandrau (the Belarusian Association of Journalists), Andrei Bandarenka (“Platform”), Raisa Mikhailouskaya (“the Center for Human Rights”), AlehVolchak (“Legal Assistance to Population”).