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On 8 August human rights defenders and representatives of the Belarusian civil society began a campaign to collect pledges for the release of the arrested chairman of the Human Rights Centre “Viasna” Ales Bialiatski (right). They encourage citizens to send their petitions asking the authorities to use personal guarantee as a measure of restraint for Ales Bialiatski.

On August 5, Human Rights House in Vilnius held a press conference dedicated to the arrest of the prominent Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski. The members of Human Rights Centre “Viasna” Valiantsin Stefanovich and Andrei Paluda uncovered new details of the arrest of famous human rights defender during the press conference.

On 4 August 2011, Ales Bialiatski, Chair of the Human Rights Center Viasna in Belarus, was detained in Minsk. We see his detention as a direct result of Ales Bialiatski’s legitimate activities in defense of human rights in Belarus. We call upon the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ales Bialiatski and to stop the criminal persecution of human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and activists in Belarus.

Ales Bialiatski, the head of Human Rights Center Viasna, a well-known Belarusian dissident and human rights defender, was arrested yesterday on alleged suspicion of ‘concealment of income on an especially large scale’.

The Belarusian Human Rights House in exile is inviting you to an urgent press-conference today, on 5 August, on 13.00, in Vilnius (Latako 3). The press-conference is dedicated to the arrest of Ales Bialiatski, a prominent Belarusian dissident and human rights defender, a leader of the Human Rights Center Viasna, yesterday in Minsk.

On July 26, two more lawyers who had defended the accused in the case on the events of December 19, failed to get through the procedure of an extraordinary certification initiated by the Ministry of Justice. The lawyers did not agree with such a decision and intended to challenge it. On this occasion Belarusian human rights activists appealed to the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.

The Belarusian Human Rights House in Vilnius hosts the presentations of the documentary “The cause of death is «–» “, which tells about the death penalty in Belarus. There are held discussions with the filmmakers and human rights activists, where guests can discuss the issue of the death penalty. The next presentation will be held on August 3, everyone is invited to participate.

Belarus has violated its international obligations by executing two death row inmates whose cases were being reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, despite requests to the Government to await the results of the review.

On 25 July Belarusian human rights activists and students of the Summer School of Human Rights gathered at the Norwegian Embassy in Vilnius, to express their condolences on the occasion of the two terrorist attacks in Oslo. The attacks took place in Norway on 22 July and claimed the lives of at least 76 people.