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The Belarusian Ministry of Information sues two major independent newspapers in the country – “Nasha Niva” and “Narodnaya Volya” – in order to shut them down. Voicing their protest, the members of the Belarusian Association of Journalists promise to “do all in [their] power for Belarus not to lose these voices of liberty, that are symbolic for the whole nation”.

For the first time in the history of independent Belarus, the traditional “Chernobyl rally” did not happen on 26 April. The event to commemorate the victims of the worst ever nuclear disaster was prohibited by the authorities. In an atmosphere of fear and repression, nobody dared to exercise their freedom of assembly without permission, although the nuclear energy issue has once again become important in Belarus.

The deadly blast in the Minsk underground on 11 April has caused growing pressure on journalists and HR defenders in Belarus. Pavel Levinau, right, a partner of the Belarusian Human Rights House from Viciebsk, was among those arrested on 19 April and linked to terrorism by the authorities. The Belarusian Association of Journalists is also voicing concern about the new wave of repressions.

Civil and political activists are being interrogated all around Belarus after the deadly blast in the Minsk metro on 11 April. Journalists are getting warnings for “dissemination of unconfirmed information”. Human rights defenders express their concern and call upon the law-enforcement agencies not to inflame suspicion and fear in the society.

Pavel Sapelka, right, a well-known Belarusian lawyer disbarred by the authorities last month, attended a seminar of the programme “International Law in Advocacy” at the Human Rights House in Vilnius on 8-10 April. The defender of political prisoners stated he is not going to give up the human rights activism, and expressed his gratitude towards the international community for support.

Detentions, interrogations, trials – the journalists keep being oppressed in Belarus. The authorities shut down popular FM-station for contrived reasons. Not only the local journalists, but the foreign ones are at risk too. Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) expressed its deep concern for the situation and released a statement to condemn the growing pressure on journalists.

Human Rights Centre “Viasna” protests against the “black list” of people of art, forbidden to be mentioned in Belarusian state media. According to the information from independent sources, people on the list – both national and foreign artists, such as Pet Shop Boys, Jude Law, Lyapis Trubetskoy, right, happened to be out of favour with the Belarusian authorities.

The presentation will be hosted at the Belarusian Human Rights House in Vilnius by the book compilers, Siarhei Lacinski and Anton Kalinousky. The book is containing real stories of real people who served administrative punishment in isolation of lawbreakers at Akrestsin Street in Minsk in 2006-2008.

Today representatives of many international human rights organisations, including members of the Human Rights House Network, addressed president of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite to take leadership in advocating for the release of political prisoners in Belarus. Human Rights Watch in its new report tells about a post-election crackdown in Belarus, mistreatments, pressures on relatives and lawyers.