Amnesty International: Ales Bialiatski supported by about 100,000 people

Amnesty International summed up the results of the world letter marathon in support of Ales Bialiatski. All in all, 104,731 actions were taken to support the Belarusian human rights defender who was declared a prisoner of conscience by this authoritative international organization.

Participants of the campaign expressed their solidarity with the imprisoned head of the "Human Rights Center "Viasna" and vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) by various means, proposed by activists of Amnesty International, among which there were signing petitions in his support, writing letters and holding art actions (concerts, light projections, etc.).

According to AI, such actions were taken in Austria, Belgium, the Bermudas, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ghana, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mali, Malta, Moldova, Mongolia, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Puerto-Rico, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Togo, Tunisia, Ukraine, Venezuela, the UK.

The organization also draws some examples of actions in support Ales Bialiatski's rights.


In Japan, more than 1,000 lanterns were lit within the framework of the AI marathon.

In South Korea, many people gathered together to make such lanterns.

In Luxembourg, waterproof water-proof lanterns featuring the images of the individuals including Ales Bialiatski went on a cruise down the river.

In Mali, a group of activists tried to tell about human rights violations in the following way.

In Togo, schoolchildren wrote letters to Ales Bialiatski.

In Montreal (Canada), volunteers had an opportunity to read more about Ales before writing letters to him.

In Paraguay, people took part in a bicycle rally within the framework of the marathon, and then signed petitions.

In Slovenia, posters were put on the streets to encourage passers-by to take part in the campaign in support of Ales Bialiatski.

In frosty Finland, activists went out to the street, holding candles and portraits of political prisoners.

Poland joined the marathon by holding various artistic actions. A graffiti artist painted letters falling into a postbox.

An image of Bialiatski on a street painting in Warsaw.

"Calendar of compassion", symbolizing the prison cell of Ales Bialiatski, was passed to President Bronislaw Komorowski.

An activist from Poznan showed solidarity with Ales Bialiatski by taking part in a special photo action. In Poland, 30,894 actions in support of the political prisoner were taken for 24 hours only!

AI marathon united many Europeans who wrote letters to Mr. Bialiatski, starting from Italy and ending with the UK.

Those who wrote solidarity letters were also given stickers with the image of the human rights defender.

Former political prisoner and presidential candidate Andrei Sannikau took part in the marathon in the AI Secretariat in London on the Human Rights Day.

Bear in mind that Amnesty Marathon launched the marathon of letters to Ales Bialiatski on 7 December 2012, on the eve of the Universal Day of Human Rights under the slogan "Write for Rights!". The aim of the marathon was to draw the international attention to the fate of the human rights defenders who are persecuted by the authorities in different parts of the world.