Eastern Partnership condemns dictatorship

The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum demands to release Byalyatski.

The Forum adopted a statement in Poznan (Poland) on November 29 demanding to free the Belarusian human rights activist sentenced to 4.5 years in prison, BelaPAN news agency reports.

“We demand an immediate and unconditional release and full rehabilitation of Ales Byalyatski,” the statement reads. “We call upon the European Union member states to take joint measures toward the release of Ales Bialiatski and other political prisoners, as there should be no political prisoners in the countries that have signed the Eastern Partnership Declaration.”

Participants of the forum think the “tax charges” related to the disclosure of his personal bank accounts in the EU countries were just an excuse to isolate “the key figure of the country’s human rights movement”. “These accounts were used solely for the funding of human rights activities in Belarus. The trial failed to produce even indirect evidence of Ales Byalyatski’s guilt, for which he was unjustly punished,” the statement reads.