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Paris-Geneva, March 2, 2023 – Tomorrow, the Leninsky District Court in Minsk isexpected to hand down its verdict in the case of Viasna leaders Ales Bialiatski,Valiantsin Stefanovich and Uladzimir Labkovich. On the eve of the verdict, thesignatory organisations reiterate their calls to release the human rights defenders anddrop all charges against them
On
March 3, 2023,
the Leninsky District Court in Minsk will rule on the politically
motivated case against the
head
of Viasna and
Nobel
Peace
Prize
laureate Ales
Bialiatski,
his deputy and FIDH Vice-President Valiantsin
Stefanovich, and
Viasna’s
lawyer
Uladzimir
Labkovich.
After over a month of unfair
trial and more than a year and a half of arbitrary detention,
hope for justice is
slim.
On
February 9, 2023, Prosecutor Aliaksandr Karol requested the court to
sentence Ales Bialiatski to 12 years’
imprisonment,
Valiantsin Stefanovich to 11 years and Uladzimir Labkovich to 9
years. Zmitser
Salauyou,
another Viasna’s member and
defendant
in this case, who is tried in
absentia,
faces 10 years’
imprisonment.
The prosecutor
further demanded
a
fine of 185,000 Belarusian rubles (approximately 68,000 Euros) to be
imposed on each of the defendants.
Lawless
authorities have played a parody of justice against human rights
defenders
“The
position of the Prosecutor's Office in the case of our friends and
colleagues is the epitome of lawlessness
by the
Belarusian authorities. Draconian
prison terms and fines, even by the abysmal
standards
of the profoundly compromised
Belarusian
judiciary,
is an ordeal for the defendants
and
their families” said Pavel Sapelka, acting member of the Viasna
board. “These shameful repressive practices against human rights
defenders require decisive actions by key international actors”
he added.
Bialiatski,
Stefanovich and Labkovich have been arbitrarily
detained
since July 14, 2021, as part of a broader crackdown on Belarusian
civil society following the highly contested August 2020 presidential
elections. They
were initially detained and held for 14
months on bogus
charges
of "tax evasion” (Part 2 of Art. 243 of the Belarus Criminal
Code), but they are now
on trial on trumped-up
charges of “smuggling” (Article 228.4 of the same Code) and
“financing of group actions grossly violating public order”
(Article 342.2 of the same Code). These new charges were only
filed
against them in
September 2022, leaving little time for the defendants and their
lawyers to prepare a new defence strategy.
Over
10 years in jail are expected in retribution for rightful human right
work by the defendants
Bialiatski,
Stefanovich and Labkovich are prosecuted in reprisal
for carrying out legitimate human rights work. Prosecution
deemed illegal such
activities as:
assisting arbitrarily
detained
participants
in peaceful
protests, paying lawyers’ fees, organising independent election
monitoring, and continuing Viasna’s activities after its formal
liquidation.
The
trial of Bialiatski, Stefanovich and Labkovich, as well as the
preceding investigation period, were marred with multiple violations
of human rights and fair
trial standards:
in the courtroom, the three defendants were handcuffed and held in a
cage; the case materials and the hearings were in Russian, while the
first
language of the defendants in which they communicate is Belarusian;
the defendants were not given sufficient time to familiarise
themselves with all the case
file;
and no independent media or independent
observers
were allowed into the courtroom,
to name just a few.
The
signatory organisations strongly condemn once again the criminal
prosecution of Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic
and Uladzimir Labkovich and reiterate their call to the
Belarusian authorities to release them immediately and
unconditionally, to drop all charges against them,
and
to end the judicial harassment against all human rights defenders in
the country.
Press
contacts :
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