Summary:
Political prisoners and politically motivated persecution
Criminal prosecution remains one of the main tools of repression used by the Belarusian authorities since the announcement of the presidential election in May and intensified in the post-election period.
In November, the authorities stepped up repression and intensified criminal prosecution for political reasons, which indicates a deepening of the already profound human rights crisis.
On November 2, the Investigative Committee announced the initiation of a criminal case under Art. 342 of the Criminal Code (organization or active participation in group actions that grossly violate public order). The case reportedly stems from a post-election protest held the previous day in Minsk. Despite the absolutely peaceful nature of the demonstration, 231 people were named suspects in the case.
Both Belarusian and international human rights organizations special statement in response to the allegations, recognizing Barysevich and Sarokin as prisoners of conscience and demanding their immediate release.
Belsat TV journalists Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova were detained and later taken into custody after the Belsat TV channel covered the rally in memory of Raman Bandarenka. They are charged under Art. 342 of the Criminal Code (organization or active participation in group actions that grossly violate public order).
On November 18, FIDH President Alice Mogwe video went online showing the “interrogation” of a 30-year-old designer detained at the protest. Presumably, the conversation took place in a police car. According to onliner.by, after his detention the young man was brought to the Lieninski District Police Department of Minsk and later taken away in an ambulance and diagnosed with a concussion, a broken nose and other injuries.
Raman Bandarenka, who was beaten on November 11 in his neighborhood in Minsk, died in hospital the following day. After being beaten, Raman was taken to the Centraĺny District Police Department and later to hospital with severe cerebral edema, closed craniocerebral trauma, subdural hematomas and other injuries. The operation lasted several hours, but the surgeons were unable to save his life.
Multiple video footage of the incident and eyewitness accounts allow us to conclude that officers of special units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus may have been involved in the crime.
Human rights organizations issued a statement of November 19 signed by ten UN experts, including the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnès Callamard, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus Anaïs Marin, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Nils Melzer, as well as members of the UN working group on arbitrary detention.
Persecution of journalists
Three journalists have become suspects in a criminal case. Belsat TV contributors Dzmitry Soltan (Buyanau), Zmitser Krauchuk and Artsiom Bahaslauski were detained on November 1 during the March Against Terror in Minsk. On November 2, they were called suspects in a criminal case of “mass riots” (Article 342 of the Criminal Code). It is known that Soltan was beaten before being taken to the Kastryčnicki District Police Department. Another detainee, who was released the same day, said that the journalist was “beaten during the detention, beaten in the police van, then beaten on the head with his own camera, and the camera was broken.”
Subscribe to our
newsletter
Sign up for our monthly newsletter
and receive the latest EPDE news
Sign up for our monthly newsletter and receive the latest EPDE news
Subscribe to our
newsletter
Sign up for our monthly newsletter
and receive the latest EPDE news
Subscribe to our
newsletter
Sign up for our monthly newsletter and receive the latest EPDE news