FIDH calls not to make past mistakes once again

The elections are held with unceasing repressions towards opposition, civil society and independent journalists on the background.

“We can’t forget what happened two years ago and that’s why we’re once again urging the Belarusian government not to allow gross violations of their citizen’s rights”, - Souhayr Belhassen, the FIDH’s president, stated.

Unfortunately, the elections are accompanied with unceasing repressions towards political opposition activists, civil society and independent journalists. They undergo arbitrary detentions and administrative arrests on farfetched reasons, pressure from KGB and beatings.

There are still fourteen political prisoners in Belarusian prisons, whose detention conditions and the way in which they are treated cause serious concern. The case of Ales Bialiatski, “Viasna” human rights center’s chairman and FIDH’s vice president, became a symbol of repressions. He was arrested on 4 August 2011 and sentenced to 4,5 half years in a high security prison. On 25 September he will celebrate his anniversary – Bialiatski will turn 50 behind the barbed wire.