Posts Tagged ‘Belarus’

Belarus: released prisoners named

September 15th, 2011

Eleven Belarusian political prisoners who were released this week after a presidential pardon have been named. They are Pavel Vinahradau, Fyodra Mirzayanuu, Alyaksandr Klaskouski, Uladzimir Loban, Dzmitry Novik, Alyaksandr Atroshchankau , Alyaksandr Mauchanau, Aleh Fedarkevich, Dzmitry Bulanau, Illya Vasilevich and Mikita Likhavid, Read more about Belarus’s political prisoners here 

Belarus: 11 more political prisoners pardoned

September 14th, 2011

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has today pardoned 11 more political prisonerssentenced for taking part in anti-government protests on 19 December 2010. The full list of names is not yet known, but Index believes that activists Pavel Vinogradov and Fyodor Mirzayanov are among those released.Around five others remain in prison. A government press release stated that Lukashenko had been “guided by the principles of humanity”.In August, The Royal Bank of Scotland announced that it will no longer engage in “any type of capital-raising” on behalf of the government of Belarus after an Index on Censorship and Free Belarus Now campaign.

Lukashenko’s Soviet mercenaries

September 5th, 2011

Belarus is Europe’s last dictatorship. Andrej Dynko explains how the country’s president Alexander Lukashenko retains his tight grip on power

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Belarus: President orders controlled internet access in educational institutions

August 31st, 2011

Internet access in educational institutions must be under control, said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as he addressed educators on 29 August. Lukashenko said they and teachers should pay close attention to communication among young people online, primarily on social networks, which he labelled “a dangerous weapon” that could be used for “destructive purposes.”

RBS pulls out of Belarus after Index campaign

August 29th, 2011

TAKE ACTION: Sign our petition now

The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced that it will no longer engage in “any type of capital-raising” on behalf of the government of Belarus after an Index on Censorship and Free Belarus Now campaign.

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Belarus: Released political prisoner claimed he was tortured

August 18th, 2011

Vladimir Yaromenok (Владимир Еременок, Уладзімер Яроменак), a Belarusian political prisoner released on 13 August following President Alexander Lukashenko’s pardoning of nine individuals convicted for the December 2010 protests in Minsk has said he was tortured while in a KGB detention unit. Yaromenok, 20, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in a colony with the highest security regime in May for having helped organise and participate in mass riots. He served 15-day and seven-day terms at two separate prisons before being referred to a KGB detention unit. 

PAST EVENT: 25 August: How theatre leads the fight for human rights in Belarus

August 17th, 2011

1 Summerhall, Edinburgh EH9 1QH

Please join Index on Censorship’s Mike Harris in conversation with Natalia Koliada, artistic director of the Belarus Free Theatre and spokesperson for Free Belarus Now.

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Lukashenko to release political prisoners

August 13th, 2011

Belarus’s president “pardons” nine of 41 political prisoners on 11 August, the same day when US toughened economic sanctions against his regime. Olga Birukova reports

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