Since its inception in 1996, the human rights organization “Viasna 96”, and then the Human Rights Center “Viasna” was consequently and ruthlessly persecuted by the Belarusian authorities. All members of this organization were subject to detention, beatings, raids, arrests and fines. A complete list of the facts of persecution would take more than a dozen pages. However, most often the lightning of the state anger fell on the highest point of the organization, its head Ales Bialiatski.