100,000 people across the world support Ales Byalyatski

Amnesty International presents the results of the Letter Writing Marathon. Thousands of people wrote letters to Ales Byalyatski as part of the marathon.

As many as 104,731 measures were taken to support the Belarusian human rights activist, who was recognised prisoner of conscience.

Participants of the international marathon showed their support to Ales Byalyatski, the jailed head of Viansa human rights centre and vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in different ways offered by Amnesty International's activists – writing letters of solidarity, signing petitions to the Belarusian authorities for the release of Ales Byalyatski, performances, concerts and light shows.

Amnesty International names the countries that joined the marathon: Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ghana, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mali, Malta, Moldova, Mongolia, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Togo, Tunis, Ukraine, Venezuela, the UK.

The organisation enlists some actions to support Ales Byalyatski.

Activists in Japan made more than 1000 lanterns as part of the marathon.

People making lanterns in South Korea.

Waterproof lanterns were set afloat in the city centre in Luxembourg to inform about such political prisoners as Ales Byalyatski.

A group of activists in Mali telling people about human rights violations.

Schoolchildren from Togo writing letters to Ales Byalyatski.

People in Montreal (Canada) could read more about Ales Byalyatski before writing letters to him.

In Paraguay, activists held a bike ride and signed petitions.

In Slovenia, posters on streets encouraged people to stop and support Ales.

In frosty Finland, activists appeared on streets with lit candles and portraits of political prisoners.

Poland joined the marathon and held several performances. A graffiti artist   drew letters dropping into a mailbox.

A graffiti piece in Warsaw depicting Ales Byalyatski.

A “compassion calender” symbolising Ales's prison cell was handed in to president Bronislaw Komorowski.

An activist from Poznan shows her solidarity with Ales Byalyatski in a special photo performance. In Poland, it took only 24 hours to take 30,894 measures to support the political prisoner.

Amnesty International's marathon united many Europeans from Italy to the UK for writing letters to and signing petitions for Ales Byalyatski.

People received stickers with the portrait of the jailed human rights activists.

Former political prisoner Andrei Sannikov took part in the marathon on the Human Rights Day in Amnesty International Secretariat in London.

The annual letter writing marathon was launched by Amnesty International on December 7, 2012, ahead of the Human Rights Day. It was carried out all over the world with a slogan “Write for Rights!' The marathon was organised to attract attention of the international community to the fate of human rights activists prosecuted by the authorities in different countries of the world.