BELARUS: Writer sentenced to four and a half years' imprisonment over “politically motivated” charges — 28.11.2011
Human rights activist, writer and Belarus PEN member Ales Byalyatski was sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment on 24 November 2011 on charges of tax evasion. The charges, which stemmed from Byalyatski’s use of personal bank accounts to receive funding for his human rights organization Vyasna, were described as “politically motivated” in a European Union report released earlier this week. The Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International condemns the detention of Byalyatski on charges stemming from his legitimate human rights activism and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.
Activist, writer and PEN member Ales Byalyatski
Byalyatski, head of the Vyasna (Spring) human rights centre, was a founding member of the Belarusian literary organization Tutejshyja (‘The Locals’) and served as a former head of the Maxim Bahdanovich Literary Museum in Minsk. He is also the author of a book of essays Jogging on the Geneva in 2006. He was arrested on 4 August 2011 and charged with tax evasion, charges which stemmed from his reported use of personal bank accounts in Lithuania and Poland to receive funding from international donors for Vyasna’s human rights activities in Belarus. Vyasna had campaigned for scores of opposition activists persecuted by the government of President Alexsander Lukashenko. The organization had been stripped of its official registration in 2003, making it extremely difficult under Belarus’s economic laws to raise funds for its activities.
On 23 November 2011 European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Commissioner Stefan Fuele called for Byalyatski’s immediate and unconditional release in a joint statement which stated, “We consider the charges against Ales Byalyatski in the ongoing trial a politically motivated pretext to target his important work [for] the benefit of victims of repressions”.
USEFUL LINKS
Further information on the sentencing of Ales Byalyatski
To view the EU statement on his detention see the "Joint Statement by High Representative Catherine Ashton and Commissioner Štefan Füle on the trial of Human Rights defender Ales Byalyatski", released 23 November 2011
For more information on freedom of expression issues in Belarus, see the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) archive on Belarus.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS
- Condemning the sentence given to Ales Byalyatski, which appears to be part of an attempt to clamp down on opposition activism in Belarus.
- Calling for him immediate and unconditional release.
SEND APPEALS TO:
President of the Republic of Belarus
Alyaksandr G. Lukashenka
Karl Marx Str. 38
220016 g. Minsk
Belarus
Fax: + 375 172 26 06 10 or +375 172 22 38 72
Email: pres “at” president.gov.by
Please note: there have been reports that the President's email address is not working, so please consider sending your appeals via the Belarusian government website
Please contact the PEN International Office if sending appeals after 23 December 2011