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Outrage and indignation
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24 November 2011
Ales Bialiatski, FIDH Vice-President and President of the Belarusian Human Rights Center “Viasna” (Viasna), was sentenced to four and a half years strict regime detention, the payment of a fine, as well as the confiscation of his property, including Viasna’s offices and property registered with members of his family. FIDH calls for his immediate and unconditional release and for all charges against him to be abandoned..
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International mobilisation of the FIDH network to demand the release of Ales Bialiatski
On 25 November 2011, a day after Ales Bialiatski’s sentence was pronounced, FIDH has called for an international solidarity event to support its Vice-President in every country that FIDH has a bureau or member organisation. Events were organised on all continents, in particular in Brussels, Buenos Aires, Saint Petersburg, Bishkek, Helsinki and Zagreb.
In Paris, members of FIDH’s international bureau, arriving from Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, Argentina, the United States, Colombia, the DRC, Finland, Mauritania, Palestine, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Mexico, Tunisia, Malaysia and Armenia, met in front of the Belarusian Embassy to denounce Ales’s four and a half year prison sentence under strict regime conditions. The LDH France, the Vietnam Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CVDDH), the League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI), the Armanshahr/Open Asia Foundation and the Lao Movement for Human Rights also participated in this event.
The Belarusian Ambassador refused to receive the FIDH delegation.
The open letter addressed to President Loukachenko was therefore deposited in the Embassy’s mail box.
Hundreds of balloons were released into the air in tribute to Ales.
To see the photos of the event in Paris, click here
To see the photos of the event in Brussels, click here
Ales’ trial is internationally condemned …
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Bertrand DELANOË, Mayor of Paris, 25 November 2011:
"In the name of Paris and its commitment to the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the world, I call on the Belarusian authorities to free, immediately and unconditionally, Aliaksandr Bialiatski and all political prisoners." > read the press release
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French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 24 November 2011:
"France is shocked by today’s sentencing of Mr. Ales Bialiatski to 4 and a half years’ imprisonment for purely political motives, following an unfair trial."
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In depth ...
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Ales Bialiatski, Vice-President of FIDH and President of the Centre for Human Rights VIASNA, has been in prison in Belarus since August 2011, accused of “large-scale tax evasion”.
His trial opened on 2 November 2011.
“The sentencing of Ales Bialiatski is the clear consequence of a political intention to break and discourage human rights activists in Belarus. FIDH and its member organisation Viasna are guarantors of Ales Bialiatski’s innocence and call for his immediate and unconditional release” declared Souhayr Belhassen, President of FIDH.
“The Belarusian authorities have stepped up repression of human rights defenders since the last presidential elections in December 2010. Ales has fallen victim to this repressive logic and yesterday’s verdict confirms that the authorities have manoeuvred to make an example of Ales, so as to dissuade all dissident voices from making themselves heard”, emphasised Artak Kirakosyan, FIDH Secretary General.
For more information on the background to these events, go to:
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Follow our actions across the world
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FIDH- International Fedération for Human Rights 17, Passage de la Main d’Or, 75011 PARIS, FRANCE
Tél : (33-1) 43 55 25 18 / Fax : (33-1) 43 55 18 80
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