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Human rights defenders do not rule out a political motive in persecution of the blogger, but in order to get a clear vision of the situation they need an expert evaluation of his texts. However, at the moment it is difficult to call the case transparent.

On 21 June in Geneva the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, Miklós Haraszti, was held within 32nd session of the UN Human Rights Council.

On 21 June 2016, HRHF delivered a statement on Belarus to the Human Rights Council. HRHF commented on systematic human rights abuses in Belarus, called on Belarus to implement the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur, and urged the Human Rights Council to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur.Read the full statement here:

Eduard Palchys, the alleged founder and author of 1863x.com Internat portal, aka Jhon Silver, was extradited from Russia to Belarus on 1 June. On this portal the analytical reports on the socio-political situation in Belarus and Ukraine were published, however for a long time its author remained unknown.

On the eve of the voting for the renewal of of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus the human rights defenders have launched an information campaign to ensure that the mandate is renewed, calling for the citizens of different countries to encourage their representatives to vote “for”. At the same time the analysis of the human rights organization “Libereco – Partnership for Human Rights” that studies the changes in the human rights situation after the abolition of the EU sanctions could serve as the example of impact of the international mechanisms and their revocation.

27 May is the birthday of Khadija Ismayilova, a well-known Azerbaijani journalist. Khadija was suddenly released on the eve of her birthday, so she spent her 40th anniversary out of the prison. In order to support her an international campaign “40 protests for Khadija Ismayilova’s 40th birthday!” was launched. The Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House joined the campaign and called on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately release all political prisoners.

On the eve of the next round of the EU-Belarus human rights dialogue the Belarusian human rights organizations have prepared and announced a joint position on the human rights observance in Belarus.

In 2012, a young Belarusian photographer spent more than a month in the KGB detention center for allegedly aiding the teddy bear air drop team to enter the country illegally. “Teddybear Airdrop” – a protest action against the violations of freedom of expression in Belarus, during which the Swedish citizens dropped a lot of teddy bears with different signs from an airplane.

The cyclists in many countries organize “Critical Mass” ride on the last Friday of the month. By this they want to draw the attention of city authorities and force them to make the city more convenient for the bicycles. The similar ride was held in Minsk on 29 April, and it ended up in detentions and searches.