Paris-Geneva, March 3, 2024 – One
year ago, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, FIDH
Vice-President Valiantsin Stefanovic and Viasna lawyer Uladzimir
Labkovich were sentenced to ten, nine and seven years of imprisonment on
fabricated charges, respectively. The Observatory and the undersigned organizations
demand their immediate and unconditional release, and call on the
international community to use all available diplomatic, political and
other means at its disposal to urge the Belarusian authorities to
respect the rule of law and to free all those convicted under
politically motivated charges.
On March 3, 2023, the Leninsky District Court in Minsk sentenced Viasna members Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich to ten, nine and seven years of imprisonment, respectively. Zmitser Salauyou,
a Viasna member tried in absentia in the same case, was sentenced to
eight years in prison. The proceedings against the four human rights
defenders were based on trumped-up charges and characterized by grave
human rights violations, exposing the politically motivated and
persecutory nature of the trial.
Today, one year after the verdict, the Observatory and the
undersigned organizations reiterate their grave concern over the unjust
imprisonment of Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir
Labkovich, and the high risk of torture and ill-treatment they face in
detention.
In early May 2023, Ales Bialiatski was transferred from pre-trial detention center No. 1 to penal colony No. 9 in Horki, considered one of the harshest prisons in Belarus. It is well-known for its brutal conditions,
especially for political prisoners, who are subjected to systematic
harassment and ill-treatment, including incommunicado detention,
isolation, and the unjustified and prolonged placement in punishment
cells. Indeed, in November 2023, it became known that Ales Bialiatski
was placed in a cell-type room (PKT),
a punitive detention condition resulting from his profile as a human
rights defender. For an extended period of time, he has been denied
contact with his lawyer and his relatives, who cannot call and do not
receive letters from him. Likewise, Ales Bialiatski apparently does not
receive letters and parcels from outside. Currently, the prison
administration refuses to accept parcels with medical supplies from Ales
Bialiatski’s relatives, and Ales Bialiatski’s state of health remains
unknown.
The Observatory is also worried about the situation of Uladzimir
Labkovich, held in penal colony No. 17, and Valiantsin Stefanovic,
currently placed in penal colony No. 15, where he was forced to do
extremely harmful and low-paid work. In January 2024, Valiantsin
Stefanovic was also transferred to a cell-type room (PKT), where he is
kept in a cell all the time, with only 30 minutes of outdoor time a day
being allowed. Valiantsin Stefanovic receives only mail or packages sent
by his family, and all phone calls and family visits are banned.
In December 2023, all three human rights defenders were also included in the list of “extremists” drawn up by the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs, subjecting them to further repression.
During the 17 months spent in pre-trial detention after their
arbitrary arrest on July 14, 2021, Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin
Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich were already kept in appalling
detention conditions, with severely restricted access to lawyers,
medical assistance, and communication.
The Observatory recalls
that Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich
were arbitrarily detained by officers of the Financial Investigations
Department of Belarus on July 14, 2021. While they were initially
detained on falsified charges of "tax evasion” (Article 243.2 of the
Belarusian Criminal Code), in September 2022, new trumped-up charges of
“smuggling” and “financing group actions that disrupted public order”
(Article 228.4 and Article 342.2 of the Belarusian Criminal Code) were
filed against them, leaving little time for the defendants and their
lawyers to prepare a new defense strategy before the beginning of the
trial on January 5, 2023. During the process, a trial observation
mission mandated by the Observatory documented significant human rights violations.
The judgement, announced
on March 3, 2023, officially entered into force on April 21, 2023, when
the Minsk Municipal Court turned down the defendants’ appeals. In
addition to the prison sentence, the three human rights defenders were
also sentenced to heavy fines.
The reprisals against Viasna and its members are part of a broader
crackdown on civil society in Belarus following the mass protests
against the falsified 2020 Presidential elections. In the aftermath of
the protests, the authorities shut down all human rights and other
independent organisations, leaving not one legally operating human
rights NGO in the country. Viasna is one of the leading Belarusian human
rights organisations and is at the forefront of the Belarusian human
rights movement. It is notably famous for its list of political
prisoners in Belarus, which, as of February 27, 2024 counted 1413
persons.
The Observatory and all undersigned organizations strongly condemn
the unfair conviction and ongoing arbitrary detention of Ales
Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich, and urge the
Belarusian authorities to quash their sentences and to immediately and
unconditionally release them. The Observatory and all undersigned
organizations further urge the Belarusian authorities to immediately and
unconditionally release arbitrarily detained Viasna members Marfa
Rabkova and Andrey Chapiuk, as well as all other prisoners in Belarus
convicted under politically motivated charges, and to put an end to all
acts of harassment against them, including at the judicial level.
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