On 30 October 2009 the UN Human Rights Committee has registered an urgent individual request under the number 1910/2009 of mother of Andrey Zhuk, who was sentenced to death in Minsk regional court. This was reported by a lawyer, human rights activist from Brest Raman Kislyak. Continue reading »
Yuliya Darashkevich
In the evening of 29 October police arrested the press photographers, members of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), Yuliya Darashkevich (“Nasha Niva”) and Uladzimir Grydzin (a freelance correspondent for Radio “Svaboda”) for the photographing of white-red-white flags, placed on the Nezalezhnastsi Avenue in Minsk by activists of the campaign “European Belarus”.
Leanid Marhotka, Salihorsk
The representative of Belarusian Helsinki Committee in Salihorsk region Leonid Markhotka expressed his opinion regarding the practice of substituting political arrests by huge fines. Continue reading »
Leanid Sudalenka, Homel
Homel civil and political figures on the criminal prosecution of Leanid Svetsik
Leanid Sudalenka, Chair of the Legal Initiative’s Homel office, human rights activist, Homel
- The Vitsebsk human rights activist Leanid Svetsik was convicted of sending letters with threats on behalf of the unregistered ultra-right organization RNE (Russian National Unity). The offence is prosecuted under Article 130-1 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (fomenting racial, national or religious hatred). As far as I know, Svetsik’s work was to render legal assistance to the receivers of the letters and that was his only fault. Now he will have to pay a huge fine of 11,000 USD, which roughly equals to a 3-year’s average salary in Belarus. It looks like the State has made up its mind to earn money on the human rights activist and his big family. I am sure that Leanid Svetsik will find a decent way out of the complicated situation, for he has not admitted the verdict yet. He is going to appeal it, therefore he considers himself innocent! Continue reading »
The mother of Andrei Zhuk, who was sentenced to death for alleged murder of two persons in February 2009, has submitted an individual complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee, claiming that in the course of the investigation and the trial, a number of provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights were violated, namely the right to life, the right to freedom of torture, the right to individual liberty and personal immunity and the right to a fair trial. Continue reading »
Alaksiej Lapicki
Vitebsk human rights activist Leanid Svetsik has been punished by the system with the greatest fine of 34 million rubles on charges, which were immediately used by the official state media for fomenting resentment and hatred, further discrimination of the Belarusian society.
In this case, the target of a company of discredit appeared to be an active in its relations with the UNCHR Vitebsk human rights activist, an activist of the Belarusian civil society, whose very honorable mission of a human rights activist was damaged. Continue reading »
A number of members of the National Parliament of Sweden (Representative of the Swedish Christian Democracy Annelie Enochson, as well as two Liberal People’s Party MPs Cecilia Wigström and Birgitta Ohlsson), which currently holds the EU Presidency, have joined the ‘Stop 193-1!’ campaign, by addressing the Belarusian authorities with a statement demanding to abolish the application of the shameful Article ahead of imposing sanctions against several Belarusian high-rank officials. By doing this, the Riksdag deputies have shown that they possess full and unbiased information on the actual situation in the sphere of the freedom of association in Belarus. Continue reading »
On October 22 in Barysau unknown persons beat Young Front members Maxim Akhrymenka and Yury Bahdanovich during collection of signatures in support of the Belarusian language.
“We collected signatures among passers-by together, when four unknown people in plainclothes came near us,” Maxim Akhrymenka said to mfront.net website. “They asked whether we are Young Front members, and when we said yes, they started to beat us”.
As said by the young activist, when police patrol saw the fight, policemen turned around and went the other way. Then people in plainclothes disappeared.
Source: www.spring96.org
Continue reading »
Valiantsin Stefanovich
Famous human rights activist told about the real situation with political repression in Belarus.
The lawyer of the Human Rights Centre “Viasna” , Valiantsin Stefanovich, answered questions on www.charter97.org: Continue reading »
Лідзія Ярмошына, ЦВК
