Belarus: “Rights defender Ales Bialiatski released, but other political prisoners remain in jail” – UN expert
GENEVA (24 June 2014) –
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, Miklós Haraszti, welcomed the release
from prison of human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, but called for the immediate and unconditional release of all
political prisoners and their full rehabilitation.
Bialiatski, founder of the Human Rights Centre Viasna, recipient of various human rights awards and Nobel Peace Prize
nominee, was sentenced in November 2011 for tax evasion to four-and-a-half years in prison and confiscation of all his
assets.
“In fact, the trumped-up charges against Bialiatski were directly linked to the fact that NGO activity is heavily
curtailed by restricting access to funding,” the independent expert said.
Viasna, which has provided legal assistance to Belarusians arrested or imprisoned during the crackdown on activists and
journalists in the aftermath of the 2010 presidential elections, has repeatedly attempted to re-register with Belarusian
authorities, following its dissolution by the Supreme Court in 2003. As a consequence, Viasna was not allowed to keep a
bank account in Belarus and Bialiatski had to keep the account abroad. This is what the authorities used to accuse him
of tax fraud.
The Special Rapporteur highlighted the systemic violations of the right to freedom of association, in particular the
restrictive regulations relating to registration and activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the
criminalisation of membership in unregistered NGOs.
“Belarus must comply with its international obligations concerning freedom of association and create conditions to
guarantee human rights defenders the ability to do their work in a safe and secure environment,” Haraszti said,
expressing concern that Viasna, one of the largest NGOs in the country, has consistently been denied registration.
NGO legislation in force in Belarus requires lengthy and complicated registration procedures, bans the activity of
unregistered associations and criminalises membership in such organisations.
“Belarus’ systematically restrictive regulations relating to registration and activities of civil society organisations
must be reviewed, without delay,” the Special Rapporteur said.
He also drew attention to the situation of those who remain imprisoned. “Like a number of other opponents and activists
whose sentences appear to have been politically motivated, Bialiatski faced psychological and physical pressure while
deprived of liberty and subjected to repeated arbitrary disciplinary punishments for allegedly violating the rules of
the penal colony,” the Special Rapporteur said.
“These punishments included limiting access to relatives, lawyers, correspondence and communication and practices that
could be viewed as amounting to ill-treatment or even torture,” Haraszti stressed.
To date, several political prisoners remain in detention in Belarus, including the 2010 presidential candidate Mikalai
Statkevich, who is serving six years in prison on charges of organising mass riots, ‘personal violence’ and resistance
to public agents.
The Special Rapporteur noted that the Belarusian Government had received and accepted recommendations from other UN
Member States to improve the human rights situations in the country and to fulfil their human rights obligations through
the Universal Periodic Review process (UPR). However, he underscored that Belarus has not yet implemented the
recommendation to take necessary measures to ensure freedom of expression and association and, specifically, to simplify
the registration procedure for public associations, including NGOs, political parties and trade unions, to remove the
prohibition against any activity by non-registered associations, and to abolish article 193-1 of the Criminal Code,
which criminalises the carrying out of an activity within such a non-registered organization.
ENDS