The rally organized by the Civil and Political Representation of Belarus in Lithuania (HUB), Belarusian Human Rights House in Vilnius and Belarus Watch organization was attended by about three dozen people. Participants of the rally came to the Belarusian Embassy in Vilnius with national flags and portraits of Ales Bialiatski, to protest against the criminal actions of the Belarusian regime manifested in the conviction of the famous Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, chairman of the Human Rights Centre “Viasna” and Vice-President of the International Federation for Human Rights who was sentenced to 4.5 years of imprisonment in maximum security colony with confiscation of property.Participants of the rally also unfurled a banner with the inscription “Viasna”(Spring) cannot be stopped” – Bialiatski managed to shout out these words after pronouncement of the verdict.
“We express our protest against the conviction of human rights defender Ales Beliatski and show our solidarity with all political prisoners in Belarus. Of course, we can say that we can not influence the outcome of the trial and the sentence, but it is very important to show that we stand in solidarity with those who are now behind bars in Belarus for political reasons. Thus we will show the authorities that we have and we will monitor the situation, “- commented on rally the director of the Belarusian Human Rights House Anna Gerasimova.
No one from the Embassy came out to meet the protesters. However the event was not left without attention – the action was observed and photographed through a window of the embassy.
On November 25 the same action took place in Minsk, as well as in some countries of Europe, where activists could express their solidarity and support to Ales Beliatski.
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On November 24, a court paternalized by Belarusian government sentenced well-known Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, head of the Human Rights Centre “Viasna” and the Vice-President of the International Federation for Human Rights, to 4 and a half years of imprisonment in maximum security colony with confiscation of property.{/0}
In the absence of any evidence that Mr. Bialiatski made use of funds from his foreign accounts for his own needs, and ignoring the strong arguments that the funds were used to help the Belarusian citizens who suffered from repressions, judge Siarhei Bandarenka passed a verdict, according to which Belarusian human rights defender was sentenced to 4 and half years of imprisonment.
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