This video on the arrest and criminal prosecution of Ales Bialiatski, chair of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" which has provided assistance to thousands of victims of political repressions, has been realised by Ales colleagues on September 2011.
Friends, colleagues and well-known public figures of Belarus are trying to determine the role and the place of the prominent human rights defender in our society and express their attitude towards his prosecution and imprisonment.
Bear in mind that Ales Bialiatski, Chairperson of the Human Rights Center Viasna and vice-President of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), was detained on 4 August 2011. On 12 August he was charged under Article 243, part 2 of the Criminal Code, “concealment of profits on an especially large scale and is kept in custody in remand prison #1 in Valadarski Street in Minsk. He faces up to 7 years of imprisonment with the confiscation of assets.
Ales Bialiatski's last testimonies in which he expresses concern about the unprecedented level of repression by the Belarusian authorities on civil society since the presidential election in 2010.
"My name is Ales Bialiatski, Chairman of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” in Belarus. I am very concerned about the human rights situation and the unprecedented level of repression by the Belarusian authorities on civil society since December 19, 2010, the day of the presidential election. Representatives of civil society and activists and civic organisations have been subjected to exceptionally severe harassment. Human rights defenders have also been harassed, in particular my organisation, the Human Rights Center Viasna. Our central office has been searched three times. Searches have taken place five times at our regional offices. Computer equipment and storage media have been seized and Viasna representatives have been called in for questioning. I [...] request the government of Belarus to uphold the international pledges it has signed ; and I call upon the international community to put pressure on Belarus to uphold both the Constitution [...] and its international commitments".
In February 2011 searches were conducted at my home, and the same month, the Prosecutor General’s Office issued an official warning against myself about working for an unregistered organisation. In Belarus, this can mean up to two years in prison. In our view, the pressure being put on Belarusian human rights defenders is linked to our comments, our positions in defense of political prisoners, of whom there are several dozen in Belarus today.
On January 17th, 2011 a search was conducted of the Minsk office of the Human Rights Center Viasna. As was reported by the BelaPAN human rights defender Valentin Stefanovich, the initial attempts to enter the premises were made at approximately 15:30. But because the attempts were made by unknown plain-clothes individuals, the human rights defenders decided not to let them in. Later however, uniformed police officers arrived with a warrant to search the premises. At that point, the door was opened. According to Stefanovich, members of the Committee for Government Security (KGB) brought a warrant to search the premises in conjunction with a criminal case. He added that this was the third visit of members of the KGB to the office: the first time the office was broken into on the night of December 19th-20th, before the criminal case had actually been initiated, the second attempt was made during the day of December 20th.
The FIDH 7-minute film Bitter Winter in Belarus denounces the violent repression exercised by the Belarus authorities against all the dissident voices that have protested against the rigging of the December 19, 2010 presidential elections.
Following the announcement of the election results, about 700 persons demonstrating peacefully in the centre of Minsk to denounce electoral fraud, were arrested and sent to prison, many of them were severely beaten. Among them were seven opposition candidates, along with political activists, independent journalists and human rights defenders. Some of the activists received arbitrary prison sentences, while others had their offices raided and ravaged repeatedly by the security forces, without access to fair means of defence; all were subjected to threats on the part of the regime. President Lukashenko himself declared, the day after the election results were announced: “Lets finish the job! There shall be no more senseless democracy in the country! […] They shall all go to prison, in accordance with the law”.
Today the repression continues. Two former presidential candidates, Andrei Sannikov et Vladzimir Niaklayev are still respectively in detention and under house arrest. Several lawyers of the detained activists have had their licences withdrawn. The two independent newspapers “Nasha Niva” and “Narodnaya Volia” risk to be banned shortly. Six journalists have been accused of having participated in “massive disturbances of the peace”, and one of their colleagues has been sentenced to four years’ imprisonment. And the human rights defenders are more than ever targeted by the regime, and are interrogated, searched and subjected to smear campaigns broadcast, all day long on the public channels. The FIDH web documentary shows damning testimonies of a society stifled by a regime that is trying at all costs to suppress all independent voices. FIDH will shortly issue a detailed report on the repression.
Aliaksandr (Ales) Bialiatski is the founder and head of human rights center Viasna and a Vice-president of FIDH (Fédération internationale des droits de l'Homme). Despite being officially shut down by the Supreme Court in 2003, Viasna is one of the few remaining organizations that continues to offer direct support to persecuted individuals and their families in Belarus, as well as practical and political assistance to other victims. Althought not a politican, Bialiatski's advocacy has made him a central opposition figure in the country and the authorities have taken him to court in at least 20 instances. Bialiatski is the 2006 recipient of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee's Andrei Sakharov Freedom Award. Since August 4, 2011, he has been imprisoned by the Belarusian government for his advocacy.
As was announced at the press conference, held on June 3th, 2009, by one of the founders of the human rights association "Nasha Viasna" (name chosen for re-registration of HRC "Viasna"), Valentin Stefanovich, the work will continue despite being refused official registration.
According to him, on May 25th, the Ministry of Justice of Belarus has for the third time issued a ruling that the human rights association "Nasha Viasna" cannot be registered in accordance with current laws. «The qualms of the Ministry of Justice in allowing the association to register are not founded on laws of Belarus. For example, they maintain that the list of founding members of the association contain inaccuracies and insufficient information. However, the Ministry of Justice has refused to inform us of the exact infractions», said Stefanovich. One of the other complaints the Ministry of Justice has against the human rights association is that the second part of its name (Viasna) has nothing to do with the membership and activities of the association, and in essence coincides with the name of the social association "Viasna-96", which was shut down in 2003. Moreover, the Ministry of Justice has filed complaints against the organizers of the association for what is being written about them on-line. «Based on the monitoring of several sites, the Ministry of Justice has decided that our goals and aims listed in our charter will not be carried out by the as yet unregistered social association», stated Valentin Stefanovich. He called the existing rules for registering social associations « absurd», and declared that "Nasha Viasna" will continue its work without being registered.
FIDH and HRC Viasna presented a joint report about the conditions of detention in the Republic of Belarus. A press conference was held on September 2nd 2008 in Minsk by the Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) Luis Guillermo Perez. The meeting with journalists was conducted in the scope of a presentation of the report by the FIDH and Belarusian Human Rights Defenders « The Conditions of Detention in the Republic of Belarus ». As noted by the Vice-President of the FIDH, Ales Bialiatski, the report, which was prepared by the investigative mission of the FIDH (headquartered in Paris) and the Human Rights Center "Viasna" shut down by the Belarus government, described the conditions of individuals held in detention in Belarus. "I want to point out,"- stressed the human rights defender -" that for a very long time, these types of investigations were not carried out here and in general, everything that centered on the work of the penal system and its subjects was considered strictly off limits. Non-governmental organizations have minimal access to information related to these issues. Nevertheless, last year the investigative group was able to accomplish quite a bit of work, including holding meetings with former members of the Constitutional Court and with human rights defenders, who have been in Belarus prisons themselves. And, naturally, there were a lot of meetings with those who are detained there in».
