A criminal trial of human rights defender Rasul Jarafov began on January 15th in Baku serious crime court. Continue reading »
GENEVA (19 August 2014) – United Nations human rights experts* today condemned the growing tendency to prosecute prominent human rights defenders in Azerbaijan, and urged the Government “to show leadership and reverse the trend of repression, criminalization and prosecution of human rights work in the country.”
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Paris-Geneva, August 6, 2014 – The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an FIDH-OMCT joint programme, deplores the recent acts of harassment and arrests of prominent human rights defenders Rasul Jafarov, Leyla Yunus and Arif Yunusov, and calls on the authorities to put an end to the ongoing repression against civil society organisations and representatives. Continue reading »

Andrei Pachobut, journalist and blogger, correspondent for Gazeta Wyborcza
A number of Hrodna journalists have sent an open letter to the Prosecutor General of Belarus, expressing their protests against the criminal charges brought against reporter Andrei Pachobut. Continue reading »
A journalist, Andrzej Poczobut, is at risk of being sentenced to five years imprisonment in Belarus after being arrested for criticizing the Belarusian President. He is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression.
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On 29 May, Minsk Pershamaiski District Court sentenced civil activist Vasil Parfiankou to six months of arrest for violating the restrictions of a preventive supervision imposed by a court under Art. 421 of the Criminal Code.
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Vitsebsk activist of the Conservative Christian Party – Belarusian Popular Front Siarhei Kavalenka has been sentenced to two years and one month of imprisonment on charges of violating parole restrictions.
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On 16 February, Navapolatsak KGB and police searched the private residence of local pro-democratic activist Mrs. Volha Damaskina, seizing a PC, a laptop and several CDs and DVDs. The raid reportedly dealt with a criminal case under Art. 341 of the Criminal Code opened against the activist’s son Dzmitry Ryzhychenka in April 2010.
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A lawyer of an activist from Vitsebsk has received an official reply from the prosecutor’s office of the Pershamaiski district.
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Vitsebsk activist of the Conservative Christian Party “Belarusian Popular Front” Siarhei Kavalenka may be imprisoned for up to three years for alleged violation of suspended sentence restrictions. Continue reading »
Civil and political activists of Vitsebsk distributed the following statement concerning the criminal persecution of Vitsebsk human rights defender Leanid Svetsik. Expressing their protest against criminal and court persecution the activists demand an objective and all-sided trial of Leanid Svetsik’s case by a competent, independent and impartial court.
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The judge of Vitsebsk oblast court Halina Urbanovich announced a break after the petition of the defendant Leanid Svetsik for cessation of legal persecution and dropping the criminal case against him. The human rights defender said that he could not understand what he was accused in and considered himself innocent.
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