HRC “Viasna” office unlawfully raided, dozens arrested

On March 25, 2017, at 1pm, maskedand armed members of the special police unit stormed into the Human RightsCentre (HRC) “Viasna” office, forced thosepresent in the office to lay to the floor and subsequently took them in a busto the Pervomaiskiipolice station in Minsk. Thosedetained included several members of HRC “Viasna”, Ms. Raisa Mikhailovskaya,Head of Belarusian Documentation Centre, Mr. Aleh Hulak, Chairman of theBelarusian Helsinki Committee, Ms. MariaChichtchenkova, Front Line Defenders Coordinator, and Ms. Evgenia Andreiuk, Co-coordinator for theNGO Crimea-SOS. The group was participating in a meeting to coordinate protestmonitoring.

They were all released withoutcharge a few hours later. The special police unit did not have a warrant toraid the office. No material or equipment was seized.

“Colleagueswere detained harshly - thrown to the floor by special police unit”, said Ales Bialiatski, Chairman of the HRC "Viasna". At leastone person was taken to the hospital.

FIDH member organisation inBelarus HRC “Viasna” is a major source of independent information on the humanrights situation in Belarus, in particular the recent crackdown of peaceful protestsagainst Presidential Decree No. 3 that imposes a tax on the unemployed.

“Banningthe right to peaceful assembly is not a sign of power. It is more a sign ofweakness and insecurity of the Belarusian regime”, commented DimitrisChristopoulos, FIDH President.

“Belarusmust accept that its people has the right to protest peacefully and itmust stop harassing human rights defenders”, said Gerald Staberock,OMCT Secretary General. “Closer ties between EU and Belarus are noexcuse for the international community not to put pressure on the country”, headded.

The massive crackdown, unseensince 2010 when the EU and the US imposed sanctions on Belarus for massivelyinfringing human rights, proves the absence of any change in the nature of thisrepressive regime.

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 byFIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of thisprogramme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rightsdefenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European UnionHuman Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.

For more information, please contact:

· FIDH: Audrey Couprie / Samuel Hanryon: + 33143552518

· OMCT: Delphine Reculeau / Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui:+41228094939 ​