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While chairing the International Human Rights Observation Mission in Belarus, the Russian human rights defender Andrei Yurov, right, was detained in Minsk on 16 March. After spending the night at police department of the Savietski district, Yurov had to leave Belarus. That situation outraged the human rights defender and astonished the international community.

Following a one-year-long human rights education course, lawyers from four post-Soviet countries received certificates of “Electronic Human Rights Education for Lawyers” programme. “The project idea is to turn professional lawyers to the essence of human rights again” – said Liudmila Ulyashyna from Human Rights House Foundation during a conference at the Belarusian HRH in Vilnius.

In a letter to the Minister of Justice of Belarus Viktar Halavanau, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) expressed deep concern in relation to cases of prosecution and pressure on Belarusian lawyers, and asked to reinstate the licences of Pavel Sapelka, Uladzimir Toustsik, Tamara Harayeva, Tatsyana Aheyeva and Aleh Aheyeu. See the full text of the letter below.

The series of criminal trials for the December 19 “mass riots” have opened in Belarus. The brutality of the first sentences was shocking. However, no-one was surprised that despite having no real proof of guilt, the authorities tried to silence the lawyers by all possible means. Long-standing defender of Belarusian political prisoners Pavel Sapelka was disbarred, following his colleagues.

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.