“26 years ago, Belarus first saw Viasna-96. It is no coincidence that it marks its anniversary on the day of the Chernobyl tragedy. On that day in 1996, the police in Belarus broke up the Chernobyl Way mass demonstration. And on the evening of that day, activists joined efforts to help those detained and their families.
For decades, the Viasna team has been defending human rights and speaking out on what many, like me, used to turn a blind eye to. Human rights activists had been handed prison sentences for their work even before 2020. Ales Bialiatski, Viasna Chairman, served 3 years in 2011-2014. Now, 6 more Viasna employees are behind bars along with him: Viasna Vice-Chairman Valiantsin Stefanovich, lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich, coordinator of Viasna's Volunteer Service Marfa Rabkova, chairman of Viasna’s Homieĺ branch Leanid Sudalenka, volunteers Tatsiana Lasitsa and Andrei Chapiuk. They are behind bars like thousands of innocent people in Belarus who must be free.
We got so used to Viasna always being around that we sometimes forget to thank them for such important and difficult work. Let's do that today. Thank you, dear human rights defenders, for doing this very, very important job for all of us.”
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged Belarusians to congratulate the Viasna team members on the Center’s 26th anniversary on its social media pages, send them letters, share stories about Viasna with the #FreeViasna hashtag.
