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Election boycott campaign in Belarus is becoming more and more complicated. Activists calling for boycott are detained, fined and imprisoned, while candidates’ speeches are censored or not broadcast on TV.

The expert group of the Belarusian Association of Journalists found out that the Belarusian media do not pay much attention to the topic of parliamentary elections. However, the representatives of BAJ are not welcome in the Supervisory Board on monitoring of compliance with the order and rules of election campaigning in the media.

The first week of the election campaign in Belarus was marked by a coordinated attack on pro-opposition groups in social networks by the KGB.

On 22 August OSCE/ODIHR observation mission, which will work in Belarus during the parliamentary election campaign, was opened in Minsk. Observers have promised that their work will be transparent and open, but the representatives of the Belarusian CEC are already being pessimistic and critical of the observers.

Belarusian KGB not only follows the election campaign, but also tracks news on human rights websites. The president of the Belarusian Human Rights House Tatsiana Ravyaka was questioned in regard to one of the articles on spring96.org website.

Civic and political activists face increasing discrimination on political grounds in the run-up to parliamentary elections which are to be held in Belarus on 23 September. Nominees from opposition parties and NGOs are denied the right to be included in the election commissions’ staff.

In the run-up to the parliamentary elections, which are to be held in Belarus on 23 September, the pressure has increased not only on politicians, but also on human rights defenders.

Civil society activists, human rights defenders and people from different countries concerned with the situation in Belarus declared the initiative to establish the International Day of Solidarity with civil society and human rights movement in Belarus on the 4 August – the day when Ales Bialiatski was arrested.

A year ago Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, chairman of the Minsk-based “Viasna” human rights center and the vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), was jailed on politically motivated charges. Belarusian and international NGOs demand to release him immediately and unconditionally, and to drop all charges against him.