Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu in Miami
South Florida Chapter of the Belarusan-American Association (BAZA) is a non-profit organization that consolidates the Belarusians in Florida and supports democracy and human rights in Belarus. Each year, our organization conducts various activities to attract the attention of the international community and general public to human rights violations in Belarus.
This year the Belarusan-American Association hosted a prisoner of conscience and 2010 Belarus Presidential candidate, Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu, in Miami, United States. During his trip, he held round tables discussions at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University, as well as, lections and press conference on human rights violations in Belarus.
Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu also visited U.S. Department of State and met with a number of influential politicians with one goal in mind: to draw the attention of the international community to human rights violations in Belarus and expose the dictatorial regime of Aleksander Lukashenko, Belarusian first and only president who took over the country in 1994 and still remains in power through rigged elections and turning the country into a police state.
This year the Belarusan-American Association hosted a prisoner of conscience and 2010 Belarus Presidential candidate, Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu, in Miami, United States. During his trip, he held round tables discussions at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University, as well as, lections and press conference on human rights violations in Belarus.
Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu also visited U.S. Department of State and met with a number of influential politicians with one goal in mind: to draw the attention of the international community to human rights violations in Belarus and expose the dictatorial regime of Aleksander Lukashenko, Belarusian first and only president who took over the country in 1994 and still remains in power through rigged elections and turning the country into a police state.
Political career and persecutions of Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu
Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu is a 2010 Belarus Presidential candidate. Amnesty International has named him a prisoner of conscience, who bravely opposes the oppressive Belarusian regime for the cause of freedom, human rights and democracy.
In February of 2010, Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu founded and led a civic campaign called “Tell the Truth!”, exposing dictatorial nature of the Belarusian regime and revealing the truth about political, economical, and social issues in the country. The campaign was supported by a great number of well-known Belarusian human rights activists and opponents of the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
In May of 2010, 65 activists of the campaign were subjected to persecution by Belarusian authorities and were searched, interrogated or arrested. The law enforcement agencies of Belarus arrested Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu at his house on May 18, 2010. The police accused him of “disseminating false information”. On May 21, Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu was released without being formally charged. During the release, the police informed him that he was a suspect in a criminal case initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The “Tell the Truth!” campaign found broad support among Belarusians and became a political platform for his nomination as a presidential candidate in the 2010 Presidential Elections.
During the registration period, Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu managed to collect more signatures for his candidacy than his competitors from the democratic camp and, on November 18, 2010, he was officially registered as a candidate for presidency.
During the election campaign, Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu and the members of his team, were harassed and persecuted by the law enforcement agencies of Belarus.
On the election day of December 19, 2010, after election polls were closed, a group of protesters and journalists, led by presidential candidate Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu, were en route to join the peaceful demonstration in the center of Minsk. The demonstration was held against numerous violations recorded during the elections, and expected falsification of elections results in favor of the current regime. Suddenly, a traffic patrol car blocked their way. When the demonstrators tried to push the car out of the way, black-clothed police forces fired shots into the air to disperse a column of supporters and journalists and launched stun grenades. The police forced photographers and cameramen to the ground to prevent them from capturing the police actions. The law enforcement officers severely beat Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu, and as a result he sustained head injuries. Unconscious, he was taken to a hospital for treatment; however later the police forcibly abducted Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu from intensive care unit and took him to an undisclosed location.
Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu was held in a KGB detention center, where he was denied adequate medical treatment, and suffered hypertension stroke. While in the detention center, the KGB officers tortured and otherwise ill-treated Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu, forced him to remain in stress positions and threatened with execution. Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu was charged with “Organization of mass riots” under Article 293 of the Criminal Code of Belarus.
At trial, he was convicted with “Organizing activities that disrupt the public order” under Article 342 of the Belarusian Criminal Code and sentenced to two years of house arrest.
Two KGB security officers had been placed in his Minsk apartment to monitor his movements and prevent him from making contact with anyone but his attorney. Reading newspapers, talking on the phone or using the Internet were prohibited to him. His family members were not allowed to see him.
On May 23, 2011, Amnesty International named him a prisoner of conscience.
As the European Union was preparing to adopt a package of sanctions against the Belarusian leadership and deny entry to President Alexander Lukashenko and dozens of other Belarusian officials for detaining opposition activists on December 19, 2010, the authorities released Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu on July 25, 2013, in attempt to improve EU-Belarus relations.
