BELARUS: BETWEEN VIOLENT REPRESSION AND NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE

The webinar is organised by FIDU – Italian Federation for Human Rights and Supolka – Belarusian Association in Italy

EVENT DETAILS

Date: 19 February 2021

Time: 17:30-18:30 (Italy) / 19:30-20:30 (Belarus)

Location: Online Event – The event will be live-streamed on FIDU’s YouTube channel and on Radio Radicale

OVERVIEW

In August 2020, after the fraudulent presidential election, thousands of protesters took to the streets calling for fair elections and freedom. Since then, the civil society in Belarus continues to protest, in a peaceful manner, against the unlawful actions of the authoritarian regime in Minsk.

As stated by the European Union External Action Service, the EU stands firmly with the people of Belarus and pays tribute to their courage and perseverance, as they continue to stand strong in the pursuit of true democratic change in their country, despite the brutal actions perpetrated by the authorities led by Lukashenka. Over the past six months, we have witnessed human rights violations and abuses, including arbitrary arrests as well as torture targeting the opposition, journalists, media workers, civil society, trade unionists and students. There have also been cases of extreme police brutality, which led to the death of innocent people, with no credible investigations conducted by the authorities. More than a thousand persons have been subject to politically motivated charges and many of them have already been sentenced by the courts. To date, 256 persons in Belarus are considered as political prisoners (Source HRC Viasna).

This event aims to shed light on the current situation in Belarus, referring also to the new round of repression of independent journalists that took place on Tuesday February 16 in Minsk, as well as to support the democratic aspirations of Belarusian society and calling for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily and unlawfully detained.

SPEAKERS

Valiantsin Stefanovic — Deputy Chair of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”

Dzianis Kuchynski — Senior foreign affairs officer, Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

Marina Zolotova — Editor-in-chief of TUT.BY

Jacopo Iacoboni — Journalist at La Stampa

Roberto Rampi — Member of the Italian Senate and Secretary of the national delegation from Italy at PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe)

Ekaterina Ziuziuk — Spokesperson of Supolka, Belarusian Association in Italy

Moderator: Eleonora Mongelli — Vice President of FIDU – Italian Federation for Human Rights

Working language: English.

For more information please contact:

segreteria@fidu.it

associazione.bielorussi@gmail.com