Viasna human rights centre deprived office

Associates of Ales Byalyatski are vacating the office today.

Euroradio has learned this from Tatsyana Ravyaka, the colleague of the human rights activist.

According to her, the human rights centre staff hoped the hearing of the cassation appeal would cancel at least a part of sentence to Byalyatski. In this case, his colleagues would be able to continue working in the office they have been occupying since 2000.

“Lukashenka claimed unambiguously: he should return the money and he will be freed. However, it has turned out that the case was not about money. The losses that are said to have been caused by Byalyatski have been compensated… But the court’s decision has not changed! This is an absolutely political case, there is no economic component in Byalyatski’s case,” the human rights activist said.

We remind that Ales Byalyatksi was sentenced to 4.5-year imprisonment and confiscation of property for tax evasion. The Minsk City Court upheld the sentence today though 757 million of rubles were collected by public and paid to the state to compensate for the alleged damage.