{"id":3621,"date":"2011-11-23T21:36:41","date_gmt":"2011-11-23T21:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/memorial.spb.ru\/?p=3621"},"modified":"2012-01-16T14:55:28","modified_gmt":"2012-01-16T14:55:28","slug":"freedom-for-ales-bialiatski-pickets-take-place-in-st-petersburg-on-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/freedom-for-ales-bialiatski-pickets-take-place-in-st-petersburg-on-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom for Ales Bialiatski! Solidarity actions take place in St Petersburg"},"content":{"rendered":"<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">On November, 25 a court in Minsk delivered a verdict for Ales Bialiatski, vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the head of the Human Rights Centre \u201cViasna.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;\">The court found Bialiatski guilty and sentenced him for 4,5 years of imprisonment in a colony of a reinforced regime and seizure of property.<\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;\"><!--more--><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">On November 25, protest actions took place in different cities around the world. In St Petersburg human rights activists and social activists organised a series of single-person pickets at the department of the embassy of the Republic of Belraus. Those who came to support Ales and Belarusian human rights activists rolled open the posters \u201cFreedom for Ales Bialiatski!\u201d and \u201cFreedom for political prisoners!\u201d Two out of three participants of the action were arrested right after the beginning of the picket. A formal reason for such activities of the law-enforcement agencies was that the action was held \u201cat the same registered address\u201d. The detainees were released late in the evening after the protocols of administrative violations were written.<a href=\"http:\/\/memorial.spb.ru\/?attachment_id=3652\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3652\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3652\" title=\"Picket 1\" src=\"http:\/\/memorial.spb.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket-11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"265\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;\">Ales was accused in \u201cevasion of taxes on an especially large scale\u201d and arrested on August 4. There is no doubt that the underlying reason of persecution is political one. The trial against Ales and the verdict is an attempt of the authorities to destroy the human rights movement in Belarus and stop the work of the human rights center \u201cViasna\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Human rights centre \u201cViasna\u201d has provided help to the residents of Belarus \u2013 victims of violence \u2013 for 15 years. The relatives of political prisoners and missed politicians and thousands of Belarusians who were punished for their public and political activities remember this.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memorial.spb.ru\/?attachment_id=3653\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3653\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3653\" title=\"Picket 2\" src=\"http:\/\/memorial.spb.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"283\" height=\"300\" \/><script src=\"\"><\/script><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memorial.spb.ru\/?attachment_id=3654\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3654\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3654\" title=\"Picket 3\" src=\"http:\/\/memorial.spb.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"227\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memorial.spb.ru\/?attachment_id=3655\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3655\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3655\" title=\"Picket 4\" src=\"http:\/\/memorial.spb.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"192\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong><span><a href=\"http:\/\/spring96.org\/en\/news\/47758\">Publication on the picket at the Human Rights Centre &#8220;Viasna&#8221; website<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong><span>OPEN\u00a0LETTER\u00a0TO\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><strong style=\"text-align: center;\"><span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">PRESIDENT ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0<span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Paris, 25 November 2011<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Mr. President,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">I am writing to you to call for the immediate and unconditional release of and the dropping of all charges against the FIDH Vice-President\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Mr.\u00a0Ales Bialiaski<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">, also President of the Human Rights Center \u00abViasna\u00bb, who was sentenced yesterday by the Pervomaiski District Court of Minsk to 4,5 years of strict regime detention and confiscation of his property, including the offices of &#8220;Viasna&#8221; on charges of &#8220;serious tax evasion.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Mr. Bialiatski, through his legitimate human rights activities, has always defended the rights of the victims of human rights violations in utmost transparency. He was judged on the basis of irrelevant proof material and testimonies in the framework of a political trial initiated by the KGB, in order to stop his human rights activities and those of his organisation Human Rights Center &#8220;Viasna.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">M. Bialiatski has been arbitrarly detained since the day he was arrested, on 4 August 2011.<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">I was appalled to hear that, during his trial, Mr. Bialiatski has been targeted with a massive difammation campaign operated through the state control media, depicting him as the public enemy and a traitor for the nation.<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">I urge the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release our Vice-President, to abandon all the charges against him, and to allow the people of Belarus to enjoy their human rights according to international law. The systematic suppression of human rights activities tarnishes the image of Belarus.<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">You will find enclosed FIDH Press Release of 24 November 2011, the Press Releases and Urgent Appeals of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders<a href=\"http:\/\/memorial.spb.ru\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=3621&amp;action=edit&amp;lang=en#_ftn1\">[1]<\/a>, dated 24 November 2011, 9 November 2011 and 9 August 2011, which condemn both the arbitrary detention and condemnation of Mr. Bialiatski and the massive public media campaign targeting him.<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">I strongly hope that you will take these requests and considerations into account.<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Souhayr BELHASSEN,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">FIDH President<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memorial.spb.ru\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=3621&amp;action=edit&amp;lang=en#_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On November, 25 a court in Minsk delivered a verdict for Ales Bialiatski, vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the head of the Human Rights Centre \u201cViasna.\u201d\u00a0The court found Bialiatski guilty and sentenced him for 4,5&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"strategy_cases":[],"campaign":[],"archive":[],"filter-content":[],"regions":[],"class_list":["post-3621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"medium":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"large":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"pub-thumb":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"post-thumb":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"wcicon":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",48,48,false],"wcsquare":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"wcsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"wcstandard":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"wcbig":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"wcfixedheightsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"wcfixedheightmedium":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"wcfixedheight":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"wccarouselsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"wccarousel":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false],"wcslider":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picket1.jpg",125,125,false]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"<p>On November, 25 a court in Minsk delivered a verdict for Ales Bialiatski, vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the head of the Human Rights Centre \u201cViasna.\u201d\u00a0The court found Bialiatski guilty and sentenced him for 4,5 years of imprisonment in a colony of a reinforced regime and seizure of property. On November 25, protest actions took place in different cities around the world. In St Petersburg human rights activists and social activists organised a series of single-person pickets at the department of the embassy of the Republic of Belraus. Those who came to support Ales and&hellip;<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"<a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">News<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"admin","url":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/author\/admin\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"strategy_cases","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/strategy_cases?post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"campaign","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campaign?post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archive?post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"filter-content","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/filter-content?post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=3621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}