27.05.2010 Brest Viasna makes another attempt to register

On 25 May the Human Rights Public Association ‘Brest Viasna’ submitted an application for registration to the Chief Justice Department of Brest City Executive Committee. This is the organization’s seventh attempt to obtain state registration since 2004.

21.05.2010 Ales Bialiatski: ‘We must take every measure possible to stop the escalation of tension and hysteria created by the authorities ahead of the presidential election’

Earlier this year the Human Rights Center ‘Viasna’ predicted the intensification of the wave of repressions ahead of the presidential election in Belarus. But then the human rights defenders could not have foreseen whether the authorities would use criminal prosecution or repressions would have a hidden character. In what direction is the situation developing? Ales Bialiatski, head of the HRC ‘Viasna’, vice-president of the International Federation of Human Rights, gives his assessment of the events of the recent weeks.

17.05.2010 Barysau human rights activists appeal rally restrictions

A number of Barysau human rights activists have lodged a complaint with the Barysau district executive committee, appealing against administrative restrictions imposed by the local authorities on street actions locations.

12.05.2010 How many death sentences have been executed since 1990?

On 12 May, human rights defenders addressed the Prosecutor General and the Chairperson of the Supreme Court with inquiries concerning the number of the death sentences issued in 1990-2009.

30.04.2010 HR activist’s office searched (updated)

According to the Navapolatsk human rights activist Zmitser Salauyou, his office is currently being searched by the police. The search was sanctioned by the town’s prosecutor’s office and is said to be linked to a criminal case initiated by the local police under Article 341 of the Criminal Code – ‘desecration of buildings and damage to property’ – following a number of inscriptions made on some of the town’s buildings.

23.04.2010 Akrestsin detention center to be equipped with blankets and pillows

The detention conditions in Belarus have repeatedly been criticized by both national and foreign human rights organizations. It is the civil convicts who are subject to extreme conditions while serving their sentences: overcrowded cells, lack of beds, showers, walks, inability to receive parcels, low quality of food and water.

16.04.2010 Car of human rights activist robbed

A human rights activist Alena Tankachova does not exclude that the car had been forced opened with the aim of a search.

Alena Tankachova, the chairperson of "Legal technologies development foundation" told to Radio Svaboda that on April 15 in the night the unkown broke the window in her car. Her personal tings were stolen from the car.

14.04.2010 International Federation for Human Rights adopted resolution on situation in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

The 37th Congress of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) took place on 6-8 April in Yerevan. A number of urgent resolutions were adopted by the organization, including the Resolution on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders and the Appalling State of Fundamental Freedoms in Eastern Europe and Central Asia that was presented by the Human Rights Center 'Viasna'. Here we propose to your attention the full text of this document.

14.04.2010 Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski elected Vice-President of International Federation for Human Rights again

On 6-8 April the 37th Congress of the International Forum for Human Rights of the FIDH (the International Federation for Human Rights) took place in Yerevan, Armeniya. About 300 delegates came there from different parts of the world, including the Belarusian human rights defenders Ales Bialiatski and Valiantsin Stefanovich.

09.04.2010 International human rights community condemns execution of Andrei Zhuk and Vasil Yuzepchuk

A wide range of foreign and international human rights organizations addressed Aliaksandr Lukashenka and Siarhei Sikorski with a joint statement to condemn the ongoing use of the death penalty in Belarus. Here we present to your attention the full text of the address.

26.03.2010 European HR organizations condemn detention of Viasna activists

Civil Rights Defenders (Sweden), Belarusian Human Rights House (Lithuania), Human Rights House Foundation (Norway) and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee condemn the detention of three activists of the Human Rights Center ‘Viasna’. "They were supposed to have applied for permission to assembly, but since the organisation they represent has been denied official registration several times, the application would not have been granted. In practice their right to assembly is severely restricted" says AneTusvik Bonde, Regional Manager at the Human Rights House Foundation.

24.03.2010 Human rights activists fined

Today, on 24 March Minsk Leninski Court convicted Viasna’s activists Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovich and Iryna Toustsik of violating Article 23.34 of the Civil Code (violation of public event procedures) while staging a picket of protest against the recent execution of death penalties on 23 March in outside the Presidential Administration building in Minsk and fined them BYR 17,500 each.

23.03.2010 Viasna’s activists detained

Four members of the Human Rights Center Viasna Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovich, Iryna Toustsik and Siarhei Sys were detained by the police while staging a picket against the execution of Andrei Zhuk and Vasil Yuzepchuk in front of the Presidential Administration building in Minsk.

09.03.2010 7 May – anniversary of Yana Paliakova’s death

Yana Paliakova, human rights activist, committed suicide in March 2009. A wide range of cruel and mean methods was used against the young women before it: arrests, tortures, criminal persecution and moral terror.

23.02.2010 Ales Bialiatski: ‘The practice of torture, violence, false evidence fabricated by police officers is part of daily life’

Mass detentions and arrests of representatives of the unrecognized Union of Poles, a nervous attitude of the police to the work of journalists, trials and allegations of disorderly conduct against civil and political activists – all this has its specific reasons, which the authorities try to cover up with demagogic statements on rights and freedoms. These are the reasons named by the vice-president of the International Federation of Human Rights, Chairman of the Human Rights Center Viasna Ales Bialiatski in an interview with our correspondent.