Observatory For Protection Of Human Rights Defenders Called To Release Leanid Sudalenka And His Colleagues

The organization has made demands.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders has received new information about human rights violations and asks to intervene urgently in the situation in Belarus. The human rights defenders stated this on their own website (translation - Charter97.org).

The organization calls for:

To guarantee under any circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Leanid Sudalenka, Maryja Tarasenka, Andrei Aliaksandrau, Iryna Zlobina and Maryja Rabkova, as well as all human rights defenders in Belarus;

To release immediately and unconditionally Leanid Sudalenka, Maryja Tarasenka, Andrei Aliaksandrau, Iryna Zlobina and Maryja Rabkova, as their detention is arbitrary and the criminal charges against them appear to be simply aimed at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities, as well as all other human rights defenders in Belarus;

To put an end to all acts of persecution, including those at the judicial level, against Leanid Sudalenka, Maryja Tarasenka, Andrei Aliaksandrau, Iryna Zlobina and Maryja Rabkova and all other human rights defenders in Belarus, as well as all organizations engaged in legitimate human rights activities in Belarus. To ensure under all circumstances their ability to carry out their legitimate activities without any hindrance or concern about repression.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders was created by the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organisation Against Torture in 1997. Its purpose is to prevent repression of human rights defenders.