30.05.2012 Belarus: Travel ban imposed on human rights defenders

Front Line Defenders believes that the travel ban is solely imposed on Belarusian human rights defenders as a result of their legitimate human rights work, in particular their denouncement of human rights violations in Belarus.

28.05.2012 Belarus: Arrest and sentencing of human rights defender Mr Oleg Volchek

On 24 May 2012, human rights defender Mr Oleg Volchek was arrested and detained by police, and sentenced to nine days of administrative imprisonment. Oleg Volchek is a prominent human rights lawyer and director of the non-governmental organisation Pravovaya pomoshch naseleniyu (Legal Aid to Population), which was closed down by the Belarusian authorities in 2003.

24.05.2012 Human rights defender Aleh Vouchak sentenced to 9 days of arrest

Human rights defender Aleh Vouchak has been sentenced to nine days of administrative arrest on disorderly conduct, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.

24.05.2012 Vitsebsk human rights defender urges local police to secure right to free dissemination of information

Mikalai Petrushenka, human rights defender and activist of the Nash Dom campaign, has addressed head of Vitsebsk regional department of internal affairs Aliaksandr Naidzenak with a letter, urging the high police official to provide explanations concerning the confiscation of printed materials from journalist Yulia Kanapliova on 20 May.

24.05.2012 Human rights defender Aleh Vouchak detained in Minsk

Human rights defender Aleh Vouchak was reportedly detained by Minsk police this afternoon, the Nasha Niva newspaper reports, quoting the activist’s associate Zmitser Kukhlei.

24.05.2012 Brest human rights defender appeals restrictions on peaceful assembly at Constitutional Court

Brest human rights defender Uladzimir Vialichkin has lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court, appealing a decision by the city’s executive committee that imposed inadmissible restrictions on the freedom of peaceful assembly.

21.05.2012 Viasna launches campaign to monitor penal system

All information concerning the analysis of penal law and penal system monitoring will be published in a thematic section on the website of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”.

The section’s expert is lawyer Pavel Sapelka.

Here is an article by Pavel Sapelka, dealing with the urgency of the issue of human rights violations against people in custody, those serving sentences and held in other institutions.

15.05.2012 Front Line Defenders protests against travel ban to human rights defenders

The international foundation for the protection of human rights defenders Front Line Defenders issued a protest statement concerning the unlawful travel ban to Aleh Hulak, Hary Pahaniaila and Valiantsin Stefanovich.

04.05.2012 Stefanovich demands that investigative committee bring a criminal case concerning unlawful travel restrictions

On 4 May the deputy head of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Valiantsin Stefanovich applied to the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus with the demand to bring a criminal case.

04.05.2012 Martin Uggla denied Belarusian visa again

The chairman of a Swedish human rights initiative Östgruppen Martin Uggla has been denied an entry visa to Belarus.

02.05.2012 Brest: human rights defenders launch "Stop 1210" campaign

In Brest, human rights defenders held a round table to mark the beginning of the campaign "Stop 1210" aimed at the protection of freedom of peaceful assemblies.

30.04.2012 Russian President’s Human Rights Council urges Medvedev to aid Ales Bialiatski’s release

“We ask you to use all of your power to foster the release of our colleague Ales Bialiatski held in detention in Belarus,” says an appeal passed to Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev in his meeting with the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights on 28 April.

26.04.2012 “Viasna” marks 16 years of activity

It was 16 years ago, when after a wave of brutal arrests during the traditional Chernobyl Way march a group of activists started collecting and disseminating information on the detainees, trying to give them financial support. This is how “Viasna-96” was founded, whose priority was providing assistance to the victims of political repressions and sharing information on these repressions.

18.04.2012 Russian human rights defender Gefter: It is absolutely intolerable to prevent citizens from going abroad without good grounds

“People cannot be restricted in their right to travel abroad, expect for the cases when the decision has been enforced by a court,’ says Valentin Gefter, Director of the Institute of Human Rights, Member of the Presidential Council for the Promotion of Civil Society and Human Rights, in his interview with the web-site of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”.

16.04.2012 Valiantsin Stefanovich: Human rights defenders view pressure to force prisoners of conscience to sign petitions for pardon as torture

“We view their release as the first step by the Belarusian authorities taken as a result of the European Union’s reaction to the situation in the country,” says deputy chair of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Valiantsin Stefanovich in his comments on the recent release of former presidential candidate Andrei Sannikau and his election aide Dzmitry Bandarenka.