Several human rights organizations appealed to the countries participating in the Championship to refrain from sending official government delegations to participate in the events related to the Championship. “By refraining from participating in the World Ice Hockey Championship’s politicised agenda, the governments of the concerned countries will allow the athletes and fans to enjoy the upcoming sports events without cautioning the violations repeatedly qualified as grave, systemic and systematic by the United Nations and other international bodies.” – is said in the appeal of human rights organizations   to the governments of member states IIHF World Championship 2014 in Minsk. The appeal was signed by Civil Rights Defenders (Sweden), FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), Finnish League for Human Rights (Finland), Human Rights Center “Viasna” (Belarus), Human Rights House Foundation, Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights & Rule of Law (KIBHR) (Kazakhstan), Ligue française des droits de l’homme (France), LIDU, Lega italiana dei diritti dell’uomo (Italie), Libereco – Partnership for Human Rights (Germany, Switzerland), Ligue des droits et libertés (Canada), Norwegian Helsinki Committee (Norway), Östgruppen (Sweden).

Human rights defenders informed UN of arbitrary detentions on the eve of the 2014 World Championship

Human Rights Center “Viasna” has informed the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention about the preventive detentions of Belarusian citizens ahead of Ice Hockey World Championship – 2014.

In general, the activists are being detained on purely fabricated, similar grounds such as “disorderly conduct” and “disobedience to the law-enforcement officials”. The courts conduct administrative trial proceedings formalistically, implicitly trust the law-enforcement officials and do not take account of the evidence provided by the defence.

Human rights organizations have repeatedly qualified such detentions as groundless and politically motivated.

As of 8 May 21 activists have been sentenced to long-term arrests. All the detainees got the terms from 10 to 25 days of arrest.

Human rights activists have prepared legal advice brochure for visitors to the country

On the eve of the World Hockey Championship 2014 Belarusian Helsinki Committee and Penal Reform Int. systematized some important legal advice for visitors to the country. What is forbidden and what is not recommended to do, the rules of communication with the police and the necessary phone numbers. 

 

 



Belarusian authorities on the eve of the Championship do not allowe human rights defenders in the country

On 7 May Chair of Swedish human rights organisation Östgruppen Martin Uggla who was going to visit Belarus has been detained in the transit zone of the National Airport “Minsk-2”.The border guards informed him verbally that he is prohibited from entering Belarus, but they continued to consult with their commanders. On 8 May the human rights defender left Belarus. “In the morning I was put on a plane. They wished me a pleasant flight. However, they did not say “See you.” I, in my turn, asked: does this mean that the year of hospitality in Belarus has ended? But the border guards pretended not to understand the question ” – said Martin Uggla.


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