Charter 97

The Charter'97 declaration deliberately echoes the Czechoslovak human rights declaration Charter 77 made 20 years before. It was created on the anniversary of a referendum held in 1996 and declared: Belarusian journalist Pavał Šaramiet acted as the group's spokesman at the declaration's public launch. Charter'97, as a citizens' human rights organisation based on the principles outlined in this document, is a non-partisan organisation which has organised protest rallies and has provided a springboard for other democratic movements in the country. On 3 September 2010, the founder of Charter'97, Aleh Biabienin, was found dead in his house near Minsk. According to initial statements by the Belarusian government, Biabienin committed suicide by hanging himself. However, friends of Biabienin have rejected this, stating that there was no indication he was suicidal, and that no messages or notes were left behind. ==Independent Online News==

In 1998 Charter'97's founder Biabienin also founded a website of independent news with a focus on human rights developments. In the weeks following the disputed December 2010 presidential election – in which pro-democracy candidate Andrej Sańnikaŭ lost to Lukashenko, often called "Europe's last dictator" – a number of opposition protesters took to the streets, alleging electoral fraud. Radzina and the ''Charter'97 staff posted numerous articles documenting arrests and injuries to the protesters by state security forces. On 21 December 2010, the Charter'97'' office was raided by agents of the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (known in Russian as the "KGB"). Radzina only had time to post "We're all at the KGB" on the site before being arrested and taken away. In 2020, the logo was changed to display "Charter'97%", referencing the fact that according to opposition groups, internet polling shows that support for President Lukashenko is low enough to be a statistical error, or around 3%. The phrase "97%" had become a rallying symbol of the opposition. In August 2022, the Belarusian authorities recognized Charter’97 as an extremist group. Earlier in 2021-2022, the Telegram channel, logo, website and pages of the Charter on social networks were included in the list of extremist materials. On July 31, 2023, the European Parliament passed a resolution in which it asks the European Commission and the Member States, to strengthen independent Belarusian media outlets, such as Charter 97. ==See also==