Banner “freedom to political prisoners” hanged out on the building of the Belarusian Embassy
An action dedicated to
the second anniversary of the arrest of Ales Bialiatski took place in
the capital of Lithuania.
The event was held near the
Belarusian Embassy to Lithuania and was attended by about 30 people.
The action participants put on masks with a portrait of Ales
Bialiatski and unfurled national flags and posters: “Human rights
advocacy is no crime!”, “Solve problems, not jail those who speak
openly about them!” and “Freedom to political
prisoners!”.
During the event some unknown people hanged out
a white transparency right on the wall of the Belarusian Embassy. The
banner contained a portrait of Ales Bialiatski and an inscription in
English “Freedom for political prisoners in Belarus”. It could be
seen well enough from the Embassy's windows.
“The poster
remained hanging there after the end of the action. The police
refused to remove it, referring to the absence of special equipment,”
commented one of the organizers of the event to charter97.org.
Bear
in mind that yesterday and information picket was held in the center
of Vilnius: social activists told passers by about the persecution of
Ales Bialiatski and other social and political activists in Belarus.
People of good will could also sign postcards in support of
Belarusian political prisoners.
Ales Bialiatski was arrested
on 4 August 2011. In November 2011 he was found guilty of concealing
income on an exceptionally large scale and sentenced to 4.5 years in
maximum security prison with the confiscation of property. The reason
for the criminal prosecution of Mr. Bialiatski was that he possessed
bank accounts in the banks of Lithuania and Poland, on which
financial means for human rights activities were accumulated. At
present Ales Bialiatski is serving a prison term in penal colony No.
2 in Babruisk.
