The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

01.08.2013 4 August – International Day of Solidarity with Civil Society of Belarus

Non-governmental organizations around the world take part in the International Day of Solidarity with Belarusian civil society for the second year already. It is celebrated on 4 August, the anniversary of the detention of the Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski.

22.07.2013 Human Rights Watch: EU Should Stand Firm on Rights

The European Union should use its upcoming meeting with the Belarusian foreign minister to reinforce tough and principled human rights demands on the government, Human Rights Watch said today.

18.07.2013 Amnesty International: Activist facing jail for helping the homeless

Aliaksei Shchadrou is facing a two-year prison term in Belarus for acting on behalf of an unregistered religious organization. If jailed he will be a prisoner of conscience.

09.07.2013 Show your support! Send a message to Ales Bialiatski before 12 July!

Ales Bialiatski, chairman of the Human Rights Center "Viasna", has been in prison since 4 August 2011. In November the same year, he was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison and confiscation of property for alleged tax evasion. In fact, the sentence is related to Ales Bialiatski’s work for human rights in Belarus.

02.07.2013 PACE calls for release of political prisoners

A resolution on Belarus has been adopted at a session of the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly in Istanbul.

25.06.2013 Two Belarusian MPs to discuss death penalty issue during meeting of PACE’s committee in Strasbourg

Two members of the House of Representatives will participate in a meeting of PACE’s Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy that will take place in Strasbourg on Thursday and deal with the issue of the abolition of the death penalty in Belarus, among others.

24.06.2013 Lawtrend and Viasna launch campaign of judicial monitoring

A number of human rights defenders representing the Human Rights Center “Viasna” and the Center for Legal Transformation “Lawtrend” conducted on 20 June monitoring of 11 administrative trials in the courts of Minsk Kastrychnitski and Leninski districts.

18.06.2013 Amnesty International: Rygor Yuzepchuk could be executed within months

Amnesty International has recently learnt that Mahiliou regional court sentenced Rygor Yuzepchuk to death for the murder of a cellmate in prison number 4 in Mahiliou, his alleged accomplice was sentenced to 16 years. According to media reports the three prisoners had staked their lives on a game of dominos and the losing prisoner was strangled with a scarf on 5 July 2012.

13.06.2013 Belarus : refusal to cooperate triggers renewal of the mandate by the UN Human rights Council

Today (13 June 2013), the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted a resolution renewing the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus and expressing deep concern at continuing violations of human rights in the country.

13.06.2013 Mandate of UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus Miklos Haraszti extended for one year

On 13 June, during the 23rd session of the UN Human Rights Council held in Geneva, the voting on the extension of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Belarus took place. The delegations of 26 countries voted for the resolution containing the proposal to extend the mandate of Miklos Haraszti, opposed by 3, 18 delegations abstained from voting.

06.06.2013 Mikhail Khvastou: Belarus does not need a special rapporteur

Belarus does not need a special rapporteur or any similar institutions. This was stated by the representative of Belarus to the UN in Geneva Mikhail Khvastou, at a session of the UN Human Rights Council, where in the evening on June 4 the latest report on Belarus, presented by the special rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, Miklos Haraszti,was discussed.

05.06.2013 Question of non-implementation of UN decisions by Belarus and Russia raised at its 23rd session

On 5 June as a part of the 23rd session of the UN Human Rights Council the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) with the support of Human Rights Watch conducted a briefing on the non-fulfillment of UN resolutions by Belarus and Russia.

04.06.2013 OSCE media freedom representative urges Belarusian government to reform media regulations

There is an urgent need to reform and liberalize Belarus’ media regulations, Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, said in Minsk on Tuesday while meeting with members of the country’s lower parliamentary chamber, the House of Representatives.