PACE rapporteur dismayed by harassment of Viasna human rights centre in Belarus

Submitted by admin on Wed, 11/28/2012 - 15:29

Strasbourg, 21.11.2012 – Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), the rapporteur on Belarus of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has expressed his dismay that the “Viasna” human rights centre in Minsk has been ordered to vacate its office by 27 November, following a year of obscure legal procedures which transferred ownership of the apartment in which the office is located to the state.

“This is yet another blatant disregard of the Parliamentary Assembly’s calls to the authorities of Belarus to stop harassing civil society and human rights defenders,” said Mr Herkel. “Meanwhile, Ales Bialiatski, Viasna’s Chairman and a human rights defender, is still in jail, where he is subject to ill-treatment, despite repeated calls to the authorities to free and rehabilitate all political prisoners in Belarus.”

He continued: “The authorities’ recently-declared intention to renew contacts with the Assembly must necessarily go hand in hand with tangible and verifiable progress in terms of respect for democratic principles and human rights, including respect for human rights defenders and the guarantee of freedom of association.”

PACE’s Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy held a hearing with the participation of Valentin Stefanovich, Viasna’s Vice-President, and other civil society representatives in Strasbourg on 4 October 2012.

http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/NewsManager/EMB_NewsManagerView.asp?ID=8183&L=2

  • Login to post comments
  • ||

News of Belarus

President welcomes the release of Ales Bialiatski

Submitted by admin on Sat, 06/21/2014 - 00:00

Today, Ales Bialiatski, a prominent Belarusian human rights defender who became the first laureate of the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize in 2013, was released from prison after spending almost three years behind bars.

Commission Starts Negotiations of Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements with Belarus

Submitted by admin on Tue, 02/04/2014 - 00:00

Commission DG for Home Affairs, Stefano Manservisi and Belarus Deputy Foreign Minister Alena Kupchyna met in Brussels to launch the negotiations on Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements between the EU and Belarus. Since 2011 the Commission has been regularly reminding of its readiness to launch the negotiations.

The negotiations will focus on agreements to facilitate the procedures for issuing short-stay visas as well as the readmission of irregular migrants between the European Union and Belarus.

Political prisoner Ales Bialiatski could walk free

Submitted by admin on Tue, 01/21/2014 - 00:00

The political prisoner can be “pardoned” if “it is proved the damage he caused with the tax fraud has been repaid.”