02.11.2020 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: October 2020
During the month, the authorities continued to routinely prosecute citizens for political reasons. There are 101 political prisoners at the moment, and the number continues to increase. The total number of people targeted by criminal cases in the election and post-election period is more than 700 people.
02.10.2020 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: September 2020
During the month, the authorities actively applied criminal prosecution for political reasons. Seventy-four political prisoners continued to be held in detention, and the number continues to grow. The total number of citizens held in criminal cases during the electoral and post-electoral periods has reached 242.
02.09.2020 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: August 2020
Viasna deplores the existence of a deep human rights crisis in the country, which affects almost every aspect of civil and political rights. The crisis has led to gross violations of the rights of thousands of citizens and requires immediate settlement, including with the intervention of international organizations.
03.08.2020 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: July 2020
The presidential campaign takes place against the background of continuous repression, in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation of society. July was marked by a continued deterioration of the human rights situation in the country, which can be described as a crisis.
02.07.2020 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: June 2020
The election campaign is taking place against the background of continuous repressions, in an atmosphere of intimidation of society. In June, the overall human rights situation in the country deteriorated sharply.
03.06.2020 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: May 2020
May was marked by a sharp deterioration in the human rights situation and an increase in repression, which is due to the start of the presidential election campaign.
01.05.2020 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: April 2020
The country’s human rights community voiced its particular concern over the government’s current policy to address the coronavirus pandemic crisis. Contrary to the WHO recommendations, the Belarusian authorities continue to conduct mass events, including the nationwide “subbotnik” (unpaid social labor day) and preparations for the May 9 military parade in Minsk, and refuse to introduce a quarantine in educational institutions.
02.04.2020 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: March 2020
On March 5, financial police arrested Siarhei Satsuk, journalist and editor of the news site ej.by. According to available information, he is accused of committing a crime under part 2 of Art. 430 of the Criminal Code (receiving a bribe repeatedly or by extortion, or by a group of persons by prior conspiracy or in large amounts).
04.03.2020 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: February 2020
According to human rights defenders, in violation of the principles of a fair trial, Mikita Yemialyianau and Ivan Komar were sentenced to excessively cruel and disproportionate punishment. The human rights community called the convicts political prisoners and requested an immediate re-trial for both defendants.
03.02.2020 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: January 2020
During the month, there were new trials of participants in the December protests against the so-called “advanced integration”. In total, according to the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, in January, administrative responsibility under Art. 23.34 of the Administrative Code affected 92 people.
16.01.2020 Human Rights Situation in Belarus in 2019
In spite of a slight decrease in the overall level of repression in the country compared with the previous year, in 2019 Belarus failed to demonstrate any significant systemic changes in the area of civil and political rights, especially at the legislative level, aimed at the qualitative improvement of the human rights situation.
04.01.2020 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: December 2019
The situation with human rights remained poor during the month. There was an overall deterioration of the situation in comparison to previous periods, which is primarily due to an increase in the number of cases of administrative responsibility targeting participants of peaceful assemblies.
03.12.2019 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: November 2019
On November 17, elections of members of the House of Representatives of the 7th convocation were held in Belarus. The only domestic citizen monitoring group, “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”, came to the conclusion that the elections of deputies of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the seventh convocation, in general, did not meet a number of key international standards for democratic and free elections, and the electoral legislation of the Republic of Belarus.
01.11.2019 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: October 2019
On October 25, the court, finding Paliyenka guilty of the alleged act, sentenced him to three years of restricted freedom without imprisonment, reducing the sentence by one year under an amnesty.
02.10.2019 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: September 2019
On September 25, the Minsk City Court was to open a closed trial in the criminal case of an activist of the anarchist movement Dzmitry Paliyenka. As a result, the trial was adjourned due to the judge’s illness.
