LONDON

30^th JANUARY 2011: 0100 GMT

For immediate release

Distribution Contact: Dr Irina Bogdanova  – reikiri@yahoo.co.uk  +44 7747 775362

STATEMENT ON TRANSFER TO HOUSE ARREST OF THE BELARUS POLITICAL PRISONERS:  IRYNA KHALIP AND VLADIMIR NEKLYAEV

BY

Irina Bogdanova – sister of Andrey Sannikov
Eva Neklyaeva – daughter of Vladimir Neklyaev

We are shocked and outraged by what is happening in Belarus now, and in particular by the events on Saturday 29^th January, concerning our families in Minsk.

 In the run up to the Council of Europe Ministers’ meeting on 31 January, Mr Lukashenka’s regime is again flirting with Europe. We are extremely concerned that his ploy will work once more, and that civilised European Ministers will believe in his good intentions. This is just what has happened previously.

The Lukashenko regime keeps arresting people, searching their houses and offices but pays lip service to the demands made by many world leaders merely by changing the way some of the political prisoners are detained.
We would like to tell you how this farce has been conducted, based on communications directly with our close family members in Minsk, during the evening, Saturday 29^th January..

Iryna KHALIP’s Transfer to House Arrest, statement by Irina Bogdanova, sister in law (sister of Khalip’s husband):

Iryna Khalip’s family received no warning that she was going to be brought home to be placed under a supervised house arrest. Nobody had a chance to prepare her son, three year old Daniil for what was going to happen. At that time on the Saturday evening his father’s side of the family was visiting – that is Andrey Sannikov’s mother and his elder son with his family. The whole family is desperately trying to preserve some sort of normality by spending the weekend together and surrounding little Daniil with love and warmth.

This family gathering was brutally interrupted by KGB officers who rang the bell and told everybody apart from Iryna’s parents (the official guardians of Daniil) to leave the apartment immediately.  Andrey’s mother wasn’t allowed to see her daughter-in-law, Iryna, and she was instructed that she is not allowed to come and see her grandson in his home. She is permitted to meet him only outside the apartment where Iryna is kept under house arrest.
No consideration was shown either for the little boy or for the elderly parents. The whole family is in a state of distress.  Danik and Iryna, of course, are ecstatic that they are together but immediately they have to learn to live under the constant supervision of two guards who stay in the house. We are talking about a child and a woman who is not a criminal, who has done nothing wrong. From my point of view this a direct violation of human rights and children’s rights. It is simply inhumane.

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STATEMENT ON TRANSFER TO HOUSE ARREST OF THE BELARUS POLITICAL PRISONERS:  IRYNA KHALIP AND VLADIMIR NEKLYAEV

BY

Irina Bogdanova – sister of Andrey Sannikov
Eva Neklyaeva – daughter of Vladimir Neklyaev

Vladimir NEKLYAEV’s Transfer to House Arrest, statement by Eva Neklyaeva, – his daughter:
Last night, 29^th January, Belarusian State TV announced that my father would be transferred from prison and become under house arrest. However, the KGB didn’t officially inform his wife, nobody told her when her husband would be coming home. My father’s friends gathered at his home to wait. After hours of waiting, KGB men arrived and started sending people away, threatening them that ”if you don’t leave, we won’t bring Neklyaev home”. When the KGB men brought him home, they half dragged him out of a van, trying to get him as fast as possible through the crowd of supporters and journalists. Now for a few hours my father has been at home, with his wife and two security men. I called by telephone and asked if I am allowed to talk to my father, but was denied this. My father was dragged from hospital bed in the night of 19^th December, and still requires medical attention.  I do not understand why my father was not transferred to a hospital, but has been put under house arrest, where a doctor is not allowed to see him!

We make the following plea to the Foreign Ministers and other politicians of Europe:-

We beg you not to pay any attention to these ‘gestures’. It’s only a game Lukashenko has played before. A leopard does not change its spots. The moment the EU approach softens he will have a free hand to do anything he wants. God save Belarus and its people then, … and the rest of Europe.

Itina Bogdanova states:-

 “I know my brother, I know that if he had a voice now he would have asked you not to let people of Belarus down. He would have not chosen this so called freedom for himself over the future and freedom of our country. Don’t let Lukashenka fool you again. Don’t let the people of Belarus suffer for another 5, 10, 15 years. “

We ask, please, do everything in your power to influence the decision of the Council of Europe to impose the strictest sanctions possible to stop this happening in the middle of Europe.  Stop the fascism in our country, please.

Thank you

Irina Bogdanova – sister of Andrey Sannikov
Eva Neklyaeva – daughter of Vladimir Neklyaev

DN: Människorättsgrupp varnad

SvD: Dags för Bildt och Ahlin att ta i hand (Jytte Guteland)

Lindrig huliganism: Sedan lämnade polisen de sörjande ifred

220050  Мінск
Галоўпаштамт, а/с 8.
Некляев Владимир
BELARUS

Om du vill läsa om de häktade och vad som händer just nu, så finns en mycket bra sammanfattning på Kalle Kniiviläs blogg: Vitryssland idag är sovjetiska Vitryssland.

Delta även i Amnestys blixtaktion (information här). Det är viktigt att vi handlar nu, före rättegången. När domar väl har fallit är det så mycket svårare att påverka situationen.

Belarusbloggen: Uppmärksammade samvetsfångar

DN: Oppositionsledarens dotter: Vi är väldigt oroliga

DN: Vitryssland stänger OSSE-kontor

SvD: Vitryssland manas frige journalister

Review of situation in Belarus on 19th-20th of December

Bellow you can see the short overview of information from the field based on the messages from our friends and colleagues describing situation in Belarus for the time being.

Freedom of assembly
On 19th of December more than 20 thousands of persons went out on the Independence Square in order to declare their disagreement with the official results of the Presidential Elections. It was peaceful gathering however demonstration has been severely stormed by the law enforcement authorities. More than 300 persons have been detained including participants of the “Initiative” group (YHRM correspondents) – Andrey Kim and Andrey Presnyak.
Participants of the rally reported presence of the provocateurs who were trying to persuade protesters to violence. These people have been previously mentioned at the other actions as provocateurs. Exactly these persons have been seen near the entrance to the Government House which allegedly was “stormed” by the rally participants.
Links to the description of the situation at the Independence Square
http://community.livejournal.com/minsk_by/7005112.html
http://ak-bara.livejournal.com/534681.html
http://zyalt.livejournal.com/333614.html

Creation of the obstacles to the activities of the human rights defenders and human rights protection organizations
In the evening on 19th of December Aleh Hulak, Chairman of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Honorary Participant of International Youth Human Rights Movement had been detained near the Square, his had been detained in a police car for more than 6 hours, he was brought up before administrative tribunal but later was released.
During the night, on 20th of December office of the Human Rights Alliance “Vyasna” involved in the independent elections observation has been attacked by the employees of the Security Service (KGB) and detained several human rights defenders, namely Valentin Stefanovich, Vladimir Lobkovich, Anastasia Loyko (YHRM participant) and other employees of the organization. It was attempt to hamper carrying out of the press-conference dedicated to the violation identifies on the Elections Day.
http://spring96.org/ru/news/39896
http://spring96.org/be/news/39756 – Lists of the police stations in Minsk with the addresses and phones
Freedom of Expression and access to information
Starting from the evening of 19th of December number of journalist representing TV channel Russia Today, Radio Liberty, Agency France Press and newspapers The New York Times and local Minsk newspaper “My District” have been beaten and/or detained.
According to Belarusian Association of Journalists different traumas have been received by more than 18 journalists: http://baj.by/m-p-viewpub-tid-1-pid-9523.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm…
During 19th and 20th of December the following developments took place:
Blocking of the social networks. E.g. Faсebook;
Limitation of access to the web-mail servers gmail.com и yandex.ru;
Attacks on the web-sites of the informational agencies, analytical centers and political organizations, in particular www.charter97.org
Disappearances and beatings of candidates for the president post in Belarus and political activists
In the middle of the 20th of December it became obvious that almost all of the candidates for the President post in Belarus, excluding elected Alexander Lukashenko, had been either detained or beaten and taken to an unknown destination. Vladimir Nyaklyaeu was injured the most, he was beaten on a peaceful demonstration, and later on kidnapped from the hospital by unknown people. Up to the moment, his health is under threat, he has no access to proper medical treatment.
Since the 18th of December, human rights defenders have been recorded disappearances of representatives of the opposition candidates’ headquarters, as well as leaders of political organizations in Belarus.
Thus, the authorities try to hold criminally liable Dmitry Dashkevich (the leader of the “Young Front”), detained on 18th of December, and Mikhail Pashkevich, trustee of the candidate for the president post V. Neklyaev, who was kidnapped in the morning on 19th of December near his home by representatives of special service.
Before the end of the official election Belarusian human rights defenders had recorded more than 15 arrests of political activists.
At the evening of the 19th of December special service of Belarus carried out searches in the headquarters of candidates for the president post.
More information about various events taking place in Belarus:
in Twitter:
http://twitter.com/baj_by – Belarussian association of journalists;
http://twitter.com/belhelcom – Belarussian Helsinki Committee;
http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23electby – search on the hashtag #electby
Web-sites:
http://spring96.org/ – Human Rights Alliance “Vyasna”;
http://www.belhelcom.org/ – Belarussian Helsinki Committee;
http://www.charter97.org/ – informational and analytical agency Charter 97 (the web-site might not be working because of attacks);
http://nn.by/ the first Belarussian newspaper “Nasha Niva”;
http://belaruspartizan.org/bp-forte/ information portal “Belarussian partisan”;
http://tut.by/ information portal;
http://www.gazetaby.com/index.php?sn_nid=33099&sn_cat=32
Blogs:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/charter97org/179425038749796?v=wall – Charter’97 in Facebook
http://community.livejournal.com/minsk_by/7005112.html – United post in LiveJournal about yesterday events, Square and detention;
http://ak-bara.livejournal.com/534681.html – photos and description of events at the Square;
http://zyalt.livejournal.com/333614.html
http://zmagarka.livejournal.com/ – general description of events with constant updating.
Video:
http://www.svobodanews.ru/content/feature/2253113.html

Initiative groups “Defence of civil society in NIS countries”
Viktoria Gromova
Anna Dobrovolskaya
Dmitry Makarov
YHRM Information Service
info@yhrm.org
and all people who follow the events in Belarus
]]> http://yhrmsweden.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/review-of-situation-in-belarus-on-19th-20th-of-december/feed/ 0 AmandaLövkvist http://yhrmsweden.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/nyheter-fran-yhrm-3/ http://yhrmsweden.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/nyheter-fran-yhrm-3/#comments Sat, 11 Dec 2010 11:47:20 +0000 AmandaLövkvist http://yhrmsweden.wordpress.com/?p=231 ]]> 03.12.2010 HRC Memorial Book Being Inspected for Extremism by FSB in Kuban On December 1, 2010 Anastasiya Denisova, the leader of the Youth Group for tolerance ETNiKA, was summoned to questioning so as to be examined on the basis of fomentation of hatred or animosity (Article 282 of the Crime Code of Russia).

01.12.2010 Moscow Helsinki Group Awards Announced

26.11.2010 Have the Russian authorities decided to publicly tell the truth about Katyn and Stalin’s role in the massacres?

24.11.2010 Armenian journalists and civil society appeal to their colleagues worldwide to raise THEIR voices in defense of political prisoner Nikol Pashinyan Armenian journalists and editors have united in defense of their imprisoned colleague, Editor – in- Chief of “Haykakan Zhamanak” (Armenian Times) newspaper, political prisoner Nikol Pashinyan. Editors and journalists of major Armenian newspapers and websites organized a protest action in Yerevan urging theArmenian authorities to stop the assaults against Nikol Pashinyan in prison and release him immediately.

15.11.2010 Scandal in Moscow over Cancellation of Screening of Anastasia Baburova Film

10.11.2010 Challenges to the European democracy were discussed in Yerevan

10.11.2010 Blocking of fascist march in Warsaw 11 November 2010

09.11.2010 Russian human rights defenders had a meeting with top-managment of ”Microsoft” in USA

07.11.2010 Journalists, bloggers hold rally near Moscow police headquarters over attack on Oleg Kashin, Kommersant journalist

07.11.2010 Russian President has put veto on amendments to the federal law on protests and rallies

SvD: Ryskt våld hotar det fria ordet

SR: Microsoft ger fria licenser till ryska organisationer

06.11.2010 Rally on Triumphal Square, an Interim Victory of the Civil Society

01.11.2010 Stop the Anti-Constitutional Bill! Public Appeal to the President of the Russian Federation

26.10.2010 Freedom to demonstrate is a human right – even when the message is critical

25.10.2010 Crystal Night – Never Again!”: in search of the alternatives and like-minded persons!

21.10.2010 Microsoft changes its policy concerning Russian NGOs

Det finns läger med historisk inriktning; deltagarna undersöker och sätter upp minnesmärken över platser där brott mot mänskliga rättigheter skedde under Stalintiden och restaurerar utomhusmuseer där läger för politiska fångar en gång legat. Det finns också läger med social inriktning; deltagarna renoverar lägenheter åt pensionärer som en gång varit offer för politisk förföljelse. Du kan läsa mer om lägren på Memorials hemsida www.pmem.ru (på ryska) och http://www.pmem.ru/index.php?mode=english (på engelska).