Picks of the week Video
The appeals of Henadz Fiadynich and Ihar Komlik, leaders of the trade union REP, will be heard on November 9 at the Minsk City Court. Both activists were sentenced to 4 years of restricted freedom as a result of a politically biased trial.
The country’s human rights community called on the authorities to reverse the sentence. Similar demands were voiced by international human rights organizations and policymakers, in particular, European Parliament.
The authorities are investigating torture reports by Uladzislau Kazakevich, a 19-year-old student who was convicted of murder and is serving his 22-year sentence in Mahilioŭ prison.
According to the prisoner’s mother, Kazakevich is held in a cold and damp cell. Besides, he is reportedly beaten by prison guards. The Department of Corrections, however, refused to admit the living conditions constitute ill-treatment.
The annual Week Against the Death Penalty has started today. This year’s events will focus on the conditions of detention on death row.
The campaign “Human Rights Defenders Against the Death Penalty in Belarus” has prepared a video telling the story of Ihar Hershankou, who is currently awaiting execution. Among other things, his mother exposes inhuman conditions for death row prisoners in Belarus.