Human rights defender Tatsiana Reviaka questioned by KGB

Mrs. Tatsiana Reviaka, member of the Human Rights Center Viasna’s Council, has been summoned for “conversation” to the KGB central office, after she received an official writ, saying that she should be questioned “as a person being aware of circumstances that have significance for maintaining the national security of the Republic of Belarus.”

Tatsiana Reviaka visited the KGB office, accompanied by her lawyer.

The human rights defender says the summons is linked to her activities and the ongoing harassment of Viasna and its activists intensified after the arrest of its leader Ales Bialiatski.

The interrogation dealt with an article entitled “Mahiliou KGB interferes with electoral process”, published on the www.spring96.org web-site on 15 August, said Mrs. Reviaka after the questioning. KGB officer Aliaksandr Matskevich also inquired on the source of the information and its author. He then asked whether Tatsiana Reviaka checked the data mentioned in the article.

In turn, Mrs. Reviaka said the publication could not discredit the KGB.

As a result, Tatsiana Reviaka was warned over the publication of unchecked information on Viasna’s web-site.
http://spring96.org/en/news/55955

News of Belarus

Belarus prisoner release: Same old trick

Good news from Belarus is rare, but last weekend president Alexander Lukashenko pardoned six political prisoners.

For the pardoned, all serving multi-year prison terms for challenging Belarus’ autocracy, this is, to say the least, a relief, and has been welcomed by local democrats and the international community.

Lukashenko has declared his decision an act of “humanity”. But is, in fact, a carefully timed tactical move to sway the European Union at a time of growing domestic and geopolitical pressure.

The question is whether he will succeed this time.

The International Day of Solidarity with Belarus 2015

Seven countries around the world celebrated the International Day of Solidarity with Belarus on August the 4th. Human and civil rights activists, as well as other people who are simply sympathetic with the citizens of Belarus and who share deep concern about their future, took part in online discussions, talked to people on the streets and posted various material in social media in order to raise awareness of countless violations of human rights in Belarus.

Solidarity with civil society in Belarus

4 August is an international day of solidarity with the civil society of Belarus. This day matters, because of the daily pressure against civil society in Belarus.

When a coalition of international civil society organisations, at the initiative of the International Youth Human Rights Movement of Voronezh (Russian Federation), launched the idea of an international solidarity day with civil society in Belarus, the country was coming out of the 2010 presidential election cycle, which symbolically ended with the arrest of the country’s leading human rights defender Ales Bialiatski.

The 4 August is key to Belarus, because of Ales Bialiatski’s arrest on this day in 2011. The day is now a symbol of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s repeated practice of arbitrary arrest of voices criticising his way of governing the country.