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Volha Takarchuk runs a political vlog with almost 37,000 subscribers. She was detained several times after the August 2020 election, but on the morning of 19 May her apartment was searched, some of her belongings were seized, and she was detained. She has remained in prison since then.

Aliaksandr Vasilevich is a businessman, owner of the Vondel/Hepta advertising agency and the “Ў” Gallery, which was formerly one of the main cultural centres in Belarus. He is also the co-founder of the online media Kyky.org and TheVillage Belarus. He was detained on 28 August 2020 by representatives of the Financial Investigation Department of the State Control Committee.

Five Belarusian journalists and media institutions have been awarded Fritt Ord’s Free Media Awards for 2021. The awards recognise the courageous and crucial work of independent Belarusian media amidst the on-going unprecedented crackdown.

In September 2020, the prominent Belarusian opposition figure Maryia Kalesnikava was abducted from Minsk and taken to the border where security forces tried to expel her from the country; she ripped up her passport in defiance. In the days that followed she was charged with incitement to undermine national security and placed in pre-trial detention. The letter that follows was written by Maryia Kalesnikava to her father on 16 July 2021, the day the Supreme Court rejected her complaint regarding the extension of her detention until 1 August.

Today, Human Rights House Foundation marks the anniversary of the latest illegitimate presidential election in Belarus. The 2020 Presidential election, however, represents a turning point in the country’s recent history as Belarusian citizens united like never before in protesting the violation of their electoral rights. The protests led to an unprecedented brutal response from the authorities which continues unabated. 

Human Rights House Foundation joins 160+ human rights organisations in demanding an end to the repression against the Human Rights Center Viasna and all other human rights defenders in Belarus.

We, the undersigned organisations, members of the Civic Solidarity Platform, with increasing pain and anger have witnessed the assault over the past year by the de facto Belarusian authorities on democratically-minded persons, independent media, civil society organisations and professionals that defend human rights, such as lawyers.

Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) strongly condemns today’s actions by the Belarusian authorities against independent civil society and human rights defenders.

Human Rights House Foundation joins 16 other organisations to share reflections on the key outcomes of the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council, as well as the missed opportunities to address key issues and situations.