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On July 14, 2021, the
Belarusian authorities detained Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Viasna
chairperson Ales Bialiatski, FIDH Vice President Valiantsin
Stefanovic and Viasna lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich in an unprecedented
raid against Belarusian civil society. Convicted on fabricated
charges to heavy prison terms, to this day, the three human rights
defenders remain unlawfully imprisoned, and are regularly subjected
to severe harassment and ill-treatment. On the third anniversary of
their detention, the Observatory (FIDH-OMCT) and Viasna reiterate
their call for the immediate and unconditional release of all
imprisoned human rights defenders in Belarus.
Paris, Vilnius, Geneva,
July 17, 2024 -. On
the early morning of July 14, 2021, the Belarusian authorities
started an unprecedented
raid
against Belarusian human rights defenders, activists and journalists
across the country, searching their offices and private apartments,
and seizing documents and technical equipment. In particular, law
enforcement officers conducted a raid in Viasna’s offices
and apartments
of team members, and arrested Viasna members Ales
Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic and
Uladzimir Labkovich,
along with other members of the organisation.
After spending almost 18
months in pre-trial detention, the trial against Ales Bialiatski,
Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich began on January 5,
2023 before the Lieninski District Court of Minsk. Based on the
fabricated charges of “smuggling by an organised group” and
“financing of group actions grossly violating the public order”,
on March 3, 2023, judge Maryna Zapasnik sentenced
Ales, Valiantsin and Uladzimir to ten, nine, and seven years of
imprisonment, respectively. Additionally, Viasna member Zmitser
Salauyou was
sentenced to eight years of imprisonment in
absentia. Despite
evident violations of the right to a fair trial, the judgement was
later upheld on
appeal.
The Observatory and Viasna are
particularly alarmed about the appalling conditions in which Ales
Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich are being
held. Recently, it
became known that Ales Bialiatski is systematically denied contact
with his relatives,
who only sporadically receive short letters from him. Likewise, Mr
Bialiatski apparently does not receive letters and parcels from
outside, including parcels with medical supplies, which the prison
administration refuses to accept on his behalf. In November 2023, Mr
Bialiatski was placed in a cell-type space (PKT) for approximately
six months, from which he was released in April or May 2024, and is
now forced to do exhausting work in a woodworking factory. His state
of health remains unknown.
This is congruent with the
findings of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights in Belarus. In her latest report
published in May 2024, she stated that “inmates convicted on
politically motivated charges reportedly wear a special yellow mark,
have arbitrary restrictions on communication with families and
lawyers imposed on them, are frequently transferred to ‘punitive
isolation cells’ (SHIZO) and ‘cell-type spaces’ (PKT),
notorious for inhuman detention conditions, where they find
themselves in solitary confinement and incommunicado detention”, as
“disciplinary sanctions for petty and far-fetched transgressions of
penitentiary rules”.
The Observatory and Viasna
strongly condemn the unlawful imprisonment 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 Viasna further
urge the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally
release unlawfully imprisoned Viasna members Marfa
Rabkova and Andrey
Chapiuk, as well as
all other human rights defenders and prisoners in Belarus convicted
under politically motivated charges.
The organisations underline
that the politically motivated, arbitrary and severe harassment and
ill-treatment of human rights defenders and political prisoners in
general in Belarusian prisons needs to stop immediately, and urge the
Belarusian authorities to respect all their international human
rights obligations.
The Observatory and Viasna
also urge the international community to use all available measures
to ensure that justice, accountability and reparations are provided
to all human rights defenders arbitrarily imprisoned.
***
The Observatory for the
Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in
1997 by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this
programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against
human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of
ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders
Mechanism implemented by international civil society.
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 July 12, 2024
counted 1403 persons. Together with FIDH’s member organisations
Centre for Civil Liberties and Memorial, in 2022, Ales Bialiatski,
founder and chairperson of Viasna, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
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