Ales Bialiatski

The cassation appeal of Ales Bialiatski against the verdict of the Pervomayskyi District Court of Minsk will be considered by the panel of judges of the Minsk City Court on 24 January 2011.

The hearings will start at 10 a.m.

The appeal was lodged by Bialiatski's lawyer on 29 November 2011.

On 24 November 2011, Mr Ales Bialiatski, Chairman of Human Rights Centre 'Viasna', was found guilty of 'tax evasion on a large scale' by the Pervomayski District Court of Minsk and condemned to four and a half years of strict regime imprisonment and confiscation of all property "including belongings registered in the name of other persons'. The court also fined the human rights defender 721 million Belarusian Rubles (approx 82,700 USD) for alleged unpaid taxes and 36 million Belarusian Rubles (approx 4,100 USD) for state costs.

Human Rights Center Viasna issued a call for donations in order to pay the amount of fine, and to date almost the totality of the fine is collected. Belarusian activists hope that the payment of the fine may favourably influence the court's decision.

The original Front Line Appeal was dated the 8 August 2011 and updates were posted on 8 November 2011, 20 November 2011, 25 November 2011 and 20 December 2011.