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Even before the detainees heard official charges President Aliaksandr Lukashenka a priori linked them with terrorist activities and urged for “the harshest penalty possible.”

“It was the cruellest crackdown in the 13 year history of St. Valentine’s Day rallies. They were beating up even girls,” says Zmitser Dashkevich, a leader of the opposition youth organisation Young Front.

Belarusian human rights defenders have their own test of the regime readiness to provide democratic reforms and maintain dialogue with the West.

Belarusian law enforcement agencies decided to celebrate the International Day Against Torture in their own, unique style. Detained a day earlier, on 3 February, opposition activists from Homiel were forced to strip naked during a search.

On 26 January 2009, the human rights centre Viasna, which has been trying to regain its official registration since 2004, issued a statement calling upon the Belarusian authorities to abide by their international commitments and allow the registration of this human rights NGO.

Statement on Nasha Viasna registration On 26 January 2009 the Nasha Viasna human rights organization applied for registration to the Ministry of Justice of Belarus. The decision by the Supreme Court of Belarus on 28 January 2003 to liquidate the human rights center Viasna was an outrage against the freedom of association, guaranteed by the […]

On 15 January the EU Parliament adopted a preliminary resolution on Republic of Belarus. MEPs acknowledge positive changes with democracy in the Republic of Belarus, but they are insufficient.

Lawyers of the Belarusian Association of Journalists do not hope for improvements in the area of freedom of expression this year.

The fourth attempt of the For Freedom movement, headed by former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich, to register was crowned with success. On 17 December the organization received its registration certificate.