Statkevich, Rubtsou and Tonkacheva in Amnesty International report

Amnesty International has released an annual report on human rights in 160 countries of the world.

The Belarus section of the report notes that it is the only country in Europe that still practices the death penalty. The right to freedom of expression was severely restricted, journalists faced harassment and severe restrictions on freedom of assembly remained in place in Belarus, Radio Svaboda writes.

The report says that at least three men were executed last year. In April, the authorities began to prosecute freelance journalists working for foreign media. According to the authorities, they required formal accreditation as foreign journalists with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At least four journalists were fined $450.

The report mentions the mass arrests of the Chernobyl Way rally, preventive detentions ahead and during the Ice Hockey World Championship in Minsk and the prosecution of political activist Yury Rubtsou, who received a term of imprisonment for insulting a judge.

Amnesty International writes that prisoner of conscience and former presidential candidate Mikalai Statkevich, who was sentenced to 6 years in jail in 2011, has been in a strict regime prison since 2012.

The report writes about the case of Belarusian human rights activist Yelena Tonkacheva, whose residence permit was nullified by the authorities for a formal reason.

The conflict in Ukraine and the shrinking of the space to express and communicate dissenting views in Russia and Central Asia are named among the most serious problems.