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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.

While human rights activists in the Republic of Belarus are sounding the alarm about “the second wave of repressions”, on the eve of the EU decision about possible sanctions, the authorities went ahead and changed a form of pre-trial detention for five political prisoners who had previously been kept in the KGB jail (including presidential rival Niakliayeu, right). However, the remaining hostages of the regime are still in prison.

The analytical review, prepared by the Committee of International Control over Human Rights Situation in the Republic of Belarus, has recently been presented and distributed to those concerned. The document is a survey depicting the authorities’ interference into activities of journalists in the Republic of Belarus.

The Human Rights House Network’s Belarusian partners has addressed foreign Bar Associations to inform them about intimidation of lawyers in the Republic of Belarus. The Human Rights House Foundation has also called the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers for urgent action.

15 Norwegian organisations and political parties in Oslo appealed to the Norwegian authorities to increase their pressure on Republic of Belarus and demand release of all arested after the preisdential elections on 19 December. Around 35-40 persons in front of the Norwegian Parliament demonstrated in support of human rights defenders and political prisoners in the Republic of Belarus.