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Following a statement of an ex-candidate for presidency about torture that he had undergone while detained by the KGB, Belarusian human rights defenders referred to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, calling for action. The Belarusian Helsinki Committee also filed an appeal to the Prosecutor-General.

The lawyers of political prisoners are being persecuted in Belarus. Four lawyers’ licences were cancelled; the formal reason was their refusal to defend the clients. In reality the lawyers had been forced to deny their assistance to the political prisoners, or else the KGB had threatened to withdraw their law licences. Find more outrageous facts of pressure on the Belarusian Bar in a letter of the human rights defenders to the respective UN Special Rapporteur.

Welcome to the first of social-educational events series called “Inconvenient Films: Discussion Club”. The event is called “What’s wrong with Lukashenka?” and is dedicated to discuss the human rights situation in Belarus, especially in relation to the recent events during and after the Presidential elections. Therefore, we will screen documentary film called “The Kingdom of the Dead Mice” (2009, 88 min., director Viktar Dashuk).
Afterwards we will have a discussion with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Belarusian Human Rights House, Belarus Watch, Eastern Europe Studies Centre and actual participants of demonstrations that took place in Minks on 19th December, 2010. The discussion will be held in English.

Voluntary organisations, institutions and individuals worldwide are welcome to nominate candidates for the 2011 Rafto Prize for Human Rights. The Rafto Prize, awarded in memory of Norwegian professor Thorolf Rafto, is awarded to an individual or organisation that embodies and upholds the principles of the Human Rights Charter through activism or engagement.

Two months after the presidential elections in Belarus, independent media outlets and human right defenders are still facing unprecedented levels of repression and harassment and the numbers of prosecutions are on the increase. Three journalists are still held in detention. All those who have been prosecuted continue to face the possibility of long years of imprisonment.

Several Belarusian HR organisations and respected HR defenders sent a joint address to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Margaret Sekaggya. Their letter vividly describes a tight if not dangerous situation where most Belarusian HR defenders find themselves at the moment. In particular, the address centres on the faith of Ales Bialiatski, right, the HR Centre Viasna co-chair.

“At first the lawyer had agreed to defend Ira. We had signed the agreement. One day she suddenly called and declined to represent our daughter,” the father of a famed journalist Iryna Khalip shared. That was the second lawyer who refused to defend the mother of the “family of political prisoners”, right. Lawyers from neighbouring countries have no doubts that their Belarusian colleagues are being pressed by the regime.

On February 18, the first political trial begins in Belarus. The fate of the rest of the prisoners will depend on the European reaction to this first one. On 

January 31, the EU imposed sanctions on the Belarusian leadership. The opposition expected a new wave of repression as a backlash. Unable to harm the hated Europe, Lukashenka has often vented his anger on the domestic carriers of European values. Dictators are used to propagating the idea of the opposition as “foreign agents”.

On 11-14 March 2011, the Belarusian HRH will host the second international conference within the framework of the Project “Electronic Human Rights Education for Lawyers” for project participants from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Russia.