Key facts
- UN experts stated that Belarusian state institutions have collaborated to suppress critics of President Alexander Lukashenko's government since 2020.
- Courts, police, security services, prosecutors, and prison authorities acted in a coordinated manner to silence opponents.
- Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
- Bialiatski was convicted on charges of "smuggling by an organised group" and "financing of group actions grossly violating the public order."
- Close to 1500 persons have been imprisoned on politically motivated charges since 2020.
United Nations experts stated on Tuesday that Belarusian state institutions have collaborated to suppress critics of President Alexander Lukashenko's government through all stages of the justice system since 2020. The independent experts reported that courts, police, security services, prosecutors, and prison authorities acted in a coordinated manner to silence opponents, involving arrests, imprisonment, and surveillance.
In a March 3, 2023 statement, UN experts urged the international community to pursue truth and justice for victims of human rights violations in Belarus, following a verdict sentencing Belarusian human rights defender and Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski to 10 years in prison. They described the outcome as a result of targeted use of criminal persecution and instrumentalisation of the justice system by Belarusian authorities to quash scrutiny and dissent.
Bialiatski, a co-laureate of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, was convicted on charges of "smuggling by an organised group" and "financing of group actions grossly violating the public order." The UN experts expressed serious concern about the basis of these charges and their compliance with rights to freedom of expression, association, and human rights work.
The Leninsky District Court of Minsk also sentenced Bialiatski's Viasna colleagues Valiantsin Stefanovich, Uladzimir Labkovich, and Dzmitry Salauyou to lengthy prison terms of 9, 7, and 8 years respectively for their work documenting the crackdown against protesters who contested the 2020 presidential election results.
Ales Bialiatski founded the Human Rights Centre Viasna in 1996, which campaigned against arbitrary arrests and human rights abuses. He was previously jailed in 2011 and detained again in July 2021.
The experts are gravely concerned that the current government has eradicated civic space and crushed freedom of expression in Belarus, with close to 1500 persons imprisoned on politically motivated charges since 2020. They reiterated their call for their immediate release, access to fair trials, and reparations.