The Observatory has been informed about criminal charges brought against Nasta Loika, a human rights defender formerly working with Human Constanta, a human rights organisation liquidated in August 2021, amid a vast offensive against civil society organisations and independent media in the country.
On
December 24, 2022, the Investigative Committee of Belarus charged Nasta
Loika under two articles of the Criminal Code of Belarus, including
“organising group actions that grossly violate public order” (Part 1,
Article 342). The second charge remains unknown at the time of
publication of this Urgent Appeal, as well as the grounds for these
accusations. Yet, on December 20, 2022, a state-sponsored media outlet
published a lengthy article stating that the Main Directorate for
Combating Organised Crime and Corruption (GUBOPiK) of the Ministry of
Internal Affairs of Belarus would have uncovered a “spy network”
allegedly led by Nasta Loika.
The
article contains three videos of Ms Loika in which she describes her
human rights activities, which are subjected to criminal liability, as
individual activities in unregistered and liquidated organisations are illegal
under Belarusian law since January 2022. The circumstances surrounding
the recording of these videos are unknown, but there are sufficient
grounds to believe that Nasta Loika was forced to make them during
interrogations. The publication of these videos violates Ms Loika’s
presumption of innocence as well as the confidentiality of the
investigations. The article also contains photos of other Belarusian
human rights defenders and accuses them along with Ms Loika of
“collecting information about Belarusian citizens and sending it to
foreign structures”.
At
the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, Nasta Loika remains
detained in Detention Centre No. 1 in Minsk, where she was transferred
on December 30, 2022. She is at high risk of torture and ill-treatment.
On
December 16, 2022, the UN Human Rights Committee requested Belarus to
take interim measures in favour of Nasta Loika, by granting her
immediate access to independent medical care, and ensuring that her
life, physical and mental integrity are safeguarded, including by
providing her with seasonally appropriate clothes. None of these
measures had been implemented by the Belarusian authorities at the time
of publication of this Urgent Appeal.
The Observatory recalls that Nasta Loika was abducted on October 28, 2022, and placed under administrative arrest
in Akreststina street temporary detention centre on October 31, 2022.
On that day, she was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest on
the charge of “petty hooliganism” (Article 19.1 of the Administrative
Code of Belarus), and was subsequently arrested on the same charge for
three consecutive times on November 14, November 29 and December 14,
2022, respectively. The continued extension of her administrative arrest
under the same article was used to keep her in detention as a
punishment for her human rights activities.
During the hearing on November 14, 2022, Ms Loika reported to have been tortured
and ill-treated in detention. Her allegations were dismissed, and to
date, no investigation has been launched into them. On October 28, 2022,
an unofficial Telegram channel of the Belarusian security services published a video of Ms Loika
handcuffed, where she allegedly confessed receiving funds from foreign
organisations, which is illegal in Belarus under Article 21 of the Law
on Public Associations. There are fears that Nasta Loika was forced to
confess after being subjected to torture or physical or psychological
pressure.
Nasta Loika was also subjected to 30 days of arbitrary detention in September 2022
on the same fabricated charges of “petty hooliganism” and then
released. She was detained following her attendance on September 6, 2022
to the trial against ‘Viasna’ members Marfa Rabkova and Andrei Chapyuk in the Minsk City Court, where they were sentenced to 15 and six years in prison, respectively.
Earlier in August 2021, Ms Loika had been arbitrarily detained and charged with “assisting tax evasion”.
The
reprisals against Ms Loika are part of a broader crackdown on civil
society in Belarus. According to Viasna, as of January 5, 2023, 1445 individuals remained detained in the country for political reasons, including 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski. In 2021 alone, the authorities shut down more
than 275 human rights and other independent organisations, leaving not
one legally operating human rights NGO in the country. In addition,
legislative amendments to the Criminal Code adopted in December 2021
re-introduced criminal liability
for "acting on behalf of unregistered or liquidated organisations". The
liquidation of all independent human rights organisations by the
authorities has therefore led to a de facto
criminalisation of human rights work.
The
rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,
enshrined in international human rights instruments, including in the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by
Belarus, have been severely and continuously violated by the authorities
in recent years, which destroys civil society in the country.
The
Observatory condemns the criminal charges brought against Nasta Loika
and her ongoing arbitrary detention, as well as the above-mentioned acts
of torture and ill-treatment against her. The Observatory urges the
Belarusian authorities to immediately release her and protect and
respect her right to be free from torture and other ill-treatment.
The
Observatory further calls on the authorities in Belarus to put an end
to any kind of harassment, including at the judicial and administrative
levels, against Nasta Loika and all other human rights defenders in the
country.
The
Observatory further urges the authorities to immediately release all
human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in Belarus and to guarantee
their physical integrity and psychological well-being.
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