Epress.am News from Armenia
Members of the Yerevan-based Helsinki Association for Human Rights and Socioscope Societal Research and Consultancy Center today protested outside the Belorussian Embassy in Armenia, in defense of Ales Bialiatski, the human rights activist in Belarus who was sentenced to prison Thursday.
Bialiatski (also spelling Belyatsky; first name Aliaksander), the Vice-President of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Head of the Belarusian Human Rights Centre “Viasna”, was arrested on Aug. 4, and convicted on Nov. 24 on tax evasion charges and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in an enhanced regime detention camp with property confiscation.
The Helsinki Association signed the Human Rights House Network letter sent to Belarusian authorities on Nov. 24 demanding Bialiatski’s immediate release. After today’s demonstration in Yerevan, Helsinki Association President Mikael Danielyan also submitted the letter to the Belarusian Ambassador to Armenia.
“We’re fighting against authoritative governments in general, not only in Belarus. Our authorities don’t differ from the Belarusian authorities. You can expect anything from them too; I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow they pursue our human rights activists. The only difference is that Belarus is in Europe, and her civilized neighbors shouldn’t tolerate the situation there,” said Danielyan.
Protest organizers say their purpose is not only to show their support for the Belarusian activist, but also to show Armenia’s authorities how the public relates to political persecution of human rights activists.
According to Danielyan, though a small protest in Armenia won’t lead to Bialiatski’s release when all of Europe and the US cannot have an impact on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko; however, that doesn’t mean that despots should be tolerated and the struggle against them must continue, step by step.