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On 14 April a small group of people with banners and posters gathered near the offices of independent newspaper Narodnaja Vola. Amongst them were World War II veterans and activists of the pro-government youth organisation BRSM. They were united near paper’s offices by the war, which, in their opinion, was falsely covered by the publication.

Belarusian HRH hosted a screening of the independent picture “10 tactics for turning information into action” on 26 March. The short documentary showed stories of HR defenders and civic activist who shared their experience in defending individual rights using new media.

Civil Rights Defenders (Kingdom of Sweden), Belarusian Human Rights House (Republic of Lithuania), Human Rights House Foundation (Kingdom of Norway and Swiss Confederation) and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee condemn the detention of the activists of the Human Rights Center ‘Viasna’ Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovich and Iryna Toustsik, as yet
another case in which the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech severely restricted by the Belarusian authorities.

Human rights defenders were detained during a street action against the death penalty in Minsk on 23 March. They were apprehended by the presidential security services and later transported to a police precinct. Now they are awaiting a court decision for ‘violating rules of conducting mass gatherings,’ Article 23.34 of the Civil Code. Ales Bialiatski, Iryna Toustsik and Valiantsin Stefanovich will spend a night before a trial incarcerated.

On 17 March Belarusian HRH hosted a documentary screening dedicated to Yana Paliakova, a human rights defender. One year ago she took her own life. Besides showing the tragic story of young woman’s suicide the film author asked a broader question as to who the Belarusian HR defenders were and what kind of problems they encountered working in the Republic of Belarus.

Council of Europe and EU opinions about abolishing the death penalty in the Republic of Belarus will not be determinative in a decision making process. Mikalai Samaseika, a chair of the Parliament working group on the death penalty, stated this on 3 March in Minsk. At the same time changes in the official death penalty rhetoric are apparent.

If you want to effectively use the power of the web, if you want to launch an information campaign, if you want to effectively say what you want to say online, if you want to learn from the experience of others, watch this film! (a blogger from the Philippines)

On 4 March in Vilnius HRH Belarusian human rights defenders presented their vision of the human rights situation in contemporary Republic of Belarus. Fitted into ten written pages it will be included into Universal Periodic Review, which Republic of Belarus as a UN member has to go through in May this year. Representatives of embassies, journalists and everyone interested had a chance to hear out Belarusians.

Belarusian Human Rights House and JuBIC are hosting a screening of a new documentary by Volha Nikalaichyk, followed by a discussion with the film director. “Murder at the Dawn of Spring” (2010) recalls a suicide committed by human rights defender Yana Paliakova on 7 March 2009 in Salihorsk, Republic of Belarus.