http://ownme.msk.ru Сервис свежайших превью новостей правительства США Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:20:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/ukraina-relizy-belorusskij-oppozicioner/ http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/ukraina-relizy-belorusskij-oppozicioner/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:17:16 +0000 aron 15282 at http://www.amnesty.org
Igor Koktysh had been detained in Ukraine since June 2007 when Belarus requested his extradition over an accusation that he committed murder in Belarus in January 2001, an offence he had been acquitted of in 2002. He was released on Monday.

Amnesty International believes that he was charged by the Belarusian authorities because of his social and political activism. Before his release, the organization considered Igor Koktysh to be a prisoner of conscience.

Speaking from his home in Ukraine on Thursday, Igor Koktysh thanked Amnesty International "for the efforts you have taken". He said that he is still adjusting to his freedom and that his first concern is his health.

Igor Koktysh's release follows a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling in his favour on 10 December 2009. He had filed a complaint with the Court in October 2007.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office initially stated that he would be released only after the judgment of the ECtHR became final in March 2010, but he was released on 2 February.

In its judgement the ECtHR said that Igor Koktysh should not be extradited to Belarus, where he would have been at serious risk of torture or other ill-treatment and could have been given an unfair trial and sentenced to death.

The Court said that there was no legal basis to detain him obliging Ukraine to release him immediately and also stated that the conditions in which he was held in Ukraine amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Igor Koktysh is accused of "premeditated, aggravated murder" of a close friend's relative in January 2001, under Article 139 of the Criminal Code of Belarus, which carries the death penalty.

Igor Koktysh was held in detention in Belarus from January 2001 until his trial that December. While in custody he was allegedly tortured and ill-treated. This included being beaten and locked naked in a freezing cell, as well as being deprived of necessary medication for his asthma, in order to force him to confess.

Igor Koktysh told Amnesty International that during his detention in Belarus the head investigator of Brest district told him that he knew he was not guilty of the crime, but that he was under pressure from his superiors. The investigator refused to repeat these words in court.

Able to prove that he was in another city when the murder took place, he was acquitted and released. This verdict was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Belarus on 1 February 2002.

After his release, Igor Koktysh moved to Ukraine where he registered to live and work and met his future wife. In April 2002, the Belarusian Prosecutor General appealed against his acquittal and the case was returned to the lower court for a retrial.

Igor Koktysh is currently pursuing his application for refugee status in Ukraine. Amnesty International said it will continue to monitor the progress of his asylum application and the payment of compensation ordered by the European Court of Human Rights.]]> http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/ukraina-relizy-belorusskij-oppozicioner/feed/ 0 http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/belorusskie-otkaznika-tyurmu/ http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/belorusskie-otkaznika-tyurmu/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:14:33 +0000 aron 15240 at http://www.amnesty.org
Amnesty International has called on the Belarusian authorities to release a conscientious objector, found guilty by the Minsk District Court of "draft evasion" and sentenced to three months in prison on Monday.

Ivan Mikhailau had refused military service because bearing arms contradicts his religious beliefs as an active member of the Messianic Jewish community. He was arrested in the town of Salihorsk, south of the capital, Minsk, on 15 December 2009.

Amnesty International considers Ivan Mikhailau to be a prisoner of conscience, detained for the peaceful expression of his beliefs.

Ivan Mikhailau’s lawyer told Amnesty International that his family intends to appeal against the verdict. His detention since 15 December counts towards his three-month sentence. He remains in the pre-trial detention centre in Zhodino – a town about 50km north east of Minsk - where he has been held since shortly after his arrest.

Military service is compulsory in Belarus for all males between the ages of 18 and 27. Even though the Belarusian Constitution states that citizens have a right to alternative civilian service, no such option is provided for in practice.

The right to refuse military service for reasons of conscience is inherent in the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion as laid down in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Belarus is a party.

According to his lawyer, after being summoned to military service in December 2008 Ivan Mikhailau told the Minsk district military that he was unable to carry out military service for religious reasons. Instead he requested to take part in civilian service as an alternative to military service.

In January 2009 the authorities denied his request on the grounds that an alternative civilian service does not exist. Ivan Mikhailau approached the military authorities a second time asking if he could substitute military service with service in the reserves. In June 2009 his request was again denied and the authorities then assigned Ivan Mikhailau to full-time military service.

Amnesty International is calling on the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ivan Mikhailau. Furthermore, the organization urges the authorities to ensure that Ivan Mikhailau and other conscientious objectors are either absolved from military service or permitted to wait until an alternative service is in place.

The organization urges the authorities to adopt a law that provides for a genuine civilian alternative to military service and recalls that Belarus is a state party to the ICCPR, and therefore obliged to recognize the right to conscientious objection.

On 3 November 2006, the Human Rights Committee ruled that the prosecution and conviction of two conscientious objectors by the Republic of Korea for their refusal to perform compulsory military service had breached Article 18 of the ICCPR as no civilian alternative was available.]]> http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/belorusskie-otkaznika-tyurmu/feed/ 0 http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/ukraina-dolzhna-soblyudat-suda-po-voprosu-o-belorusskix-rok-muzykant/ http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/ukraina-dolzhna-soblyudat-suda-po-voprosu-o-belorusskix-rok-muzykant/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:00:12 +0000 aron 14600 at http://www.amnesty.org http://ownme.msk.ru/obrazovanie/ukraina-dolzhna-soblyudat-suda-po-voprosu-o-belorusskix-rok-muzykant/feed/ 0