Members and partners of the Human Rights House Network express their deep concern about the detention of Ales Bialiatski and the significant deterioration of his detention conditions.

The letter states, “According to the information received from our partners, Ales Bialiatski’s rights to receive visitors and food parcels have been severely restricted. The consequence of these and other measures taken against him during his imprisonment is a serious deterioration in Ales Bialiatski’s health. We would like to note that this latest deterioration of detention conditions of Ales Bialiatski took place just after he turned 50 years old. He received greetings and congratulations from human rights defenders all over the world, as well as from the international community, including the European Union Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle, all calling for his immediate release”.

The Human Rights House Network urges the Belarusian authorities to:

• Immediately release Ales Bialiatski, drop all charges against him and fully rehabilitate him;

• Pending the release provide Ales Bialiatski access to all medical support he needs and secure that the prison conditions do not impact his heath;

• Ensure that Ales Bialiatski has full rights to receive visits and private correspondence.

“We believe that Belarusian authorities have to take all necessary measures to allow human rights defenders to work freely and with no abusive restrictions, including by providing registration to human rights organisations and to stop using the registration of NGOs as a tool to repress critical voices, as stated in the Declaration on Human Rights Derenders”, the letter states.

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The Human Rights House Network is a forum of cooperation between established and emerging Human Rights Houses, uniting 70 NGOs in 15 countries in Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and South Caucasus, East and Horn of Africa, and Western Europe. The Human Rights House Network’s aim is to protect, strengthen and support human rights defenders and their organisations. The Human Rights House Foundation, based in Oslo (Norway) and Geneva (Switzerland), is the secretariat of the Human Rights House Network.

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