On September 17, officers of GUBAZIK (Interior Ministry’s Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption) Guidelines on the Definition of Political Prisoners, adopted at the 3rd Belarusian Human Rights Forum, we, representatives of Belarusian human rights organizations, consider human rights activist Marfa Rabkova to be a political prisoner and call on the authorities to:

• immediately release Viasna’s human rights activist Marfa Rabkova and stop the criminal prosecution against her;
• stop all attempts of pressure and persecution against members of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” and all Belarusian human rights activists;
• strictly fulfill their international obligations to ensure guarantees of human rights activities in the country.

Human Rights Center “Viasna”

Advisory center on contemporary international practices and their legal implementation “Human Constanta”

FORB Initiative

Belarusian Helsinki Committee

Center for Legal Transformation “Lawtrend”

Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Legal Initiative

Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House

PEN Belarus

Belarusian Association of Journalists

Belarusian Documentation Center