News on the topic: human rights defenders
07.04.2021 Stop persecution of human rights activists Tatsiana Hatsura-Yavorskaya and Enira Branitskaya
Joint statement of the Belarusian human rights community
27.03.2021 Ongoing harassment of Viasna members
The authorities continue to summon and interrogate human rights defenders and journalists as part of a criminal investigation dubbed “The Viasna Case”. Over the past week, a dozen more activists have been questioned as witnesses in the case alleging Viasna’s involvement in the financing of the post-election protests.
19.03.2021 Crackdown on human rights defenders deepens, says UN expert
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor said today she was concerned by an increasing crackdown against human rights defenders in Belarus, citing two cases of suspected reprisals against individuals who have collaborated with the United Nations in promoting and protecting the rights of people with disabilities.
18.03.2021 Authorities step up pressure on Viasna activists
Several human rights defenders working with the Human Rights Center “Viasna” have been questioned in criminal proceedings over the past few days, as the authorities continue to investigate the organization’s alleged involvement in the financing of the post-election protests.
17.03.2021 End reprisals against human rights defenders
Joint statement by Amnetsy International, FIDH, IMS, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Watch, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Front Line Defenders, IPHR, and People in Need.
05.03.2021 Viasna protests ongoing repression of its activists
Statement by the Board of the Human Rights Center "Viasna"
02.03.2021 Viasna human rights activist Dzmitry Salauyou detained again, named suspect in criminal case
In the evening of March 1, human rights activist and member of the Board of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" Dzmitry Salauyou was detained in Minsk. The day before Salauyou was released after serving 12 days of administrative detention.
22.02.2021 Viasna targeted in fake email attack
Last Friday, February 19, eighty-five electronic mailboxes belonging to EU MPs and ambassadors to Belarus received a letter allegedly authored by the Human Rights Center “Viasna”.
19.02.2021 Viasna calls to release its activist Dzmitry Salauyou and end repression of human rights defenders
Statement by the Board of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”
19.02.2021 Political prisoner Mikhail Zhamchuzhny walks free after 6 ½ years in prison
Mikhail Zhamchuzhny, a 65-year-old political prisoner and human rights activist, was released this morning from penal colony No. 9 in the city of Horki, Mahilioŭ region, RFE/RL’s Belarus service said.
18.02.2021 Viasna human rights defender Dzmitry Salauyou sentenced to 12 days in prison
Dzmitry Salauyou, human rights defender and member of the Board of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, was sentenced today to 12 days of administrative detention, after Judge Anzhalika Kazlova of the Minsk District Court found him guilty of “illegal picketing” (Art. 23.34 of the Administrative Code).
17.02.2021 Statement on the unprecedented attack on Belarusian human rights defenders
Assistance to victims of reprisals is increasingly becoming a reason for criminal proceedings against Belarusians defending human rights.
17.02.2021 New reprisals against civil society activists underpin vicious crackdown on human rights
The Belarusian authorities have now set their sights on human rights defenders and journalists whose only crime has been to document the wave of gross human rights violations committed by security forces following last August’s contested presidential election.
16.02.2021 Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders strongly condemns escalating crackdown on Belarusian activists
The Observatory strongly condemns the ongoing crackdown on human rights defenders and journalists and urges the authorities in Belarus to immediately put an end to the persecution and harassment, including at the judicial level, of the above-mentioned human rights defenders and journalists.
16.02.2021 BAJ, Viasna under attack
At least 25 human rights defenders, mostly working with the Belarusian Association of Journalists and the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, have been either detained or targeted in police raids this morning. Several offices were searched, both in Minsk and across Belarus, including Viasna’s office in Minsk.
