Belarus must release all prisoners held on political grounds and protect their rights: UN experts

“The practice of incommunicado detention of members of the political opposition and prominent figures sentenced to lengthy prison terms for voicing dissent increased in 2023,” the experts said.

UN experts today called on Belarusian authorities to immediately release all prisoners in the country detained on spurious charges for exercising their fundamental rights to peaceful assembly, association and expression.

“The practice of incommunicado detention of members of the political opposition and prominent figures sentenced to lengthy prison terms for voicing dissent increased in 2023,” the experts said.

The Viasna Human Rights Centre reported that 1,511 people have been detained on politically motivated charges since widespread protests swept the country in 2020. It has also documented an average of 17 arbitrary arrests and detentions a day.

While Belarusian prisons are notorious for substandard conditions, civil society organisations continue to document the systematic discriminatory placement of persons detained on politically motivated grounds in even harsher conditions than the general prison population.

“This arbitrary practice appears to have a systemic character,” the experts said.

The harsh conditions of detention have reportedly had a negative impact on the physical and mental health of the detainees, including Mr Siarhei Tsikhanouski, Ms Maria Kalesnikava, Mr Viktar Barbaryka and Mr Maksim Znak, whose cases were documented* by the experts. The prisoners were reportedly denied access to timely and appropriate medical examinations and treatment, adequate legal representation and prevented from contacting their families.

“Incommunicado detention – with a risk of enforced disappearance – is indicative of a strategy to punish political opponents and hide evidence of their ill-treatment and torture by law enforcement and prison authorities,” the experts said.

They deplored the lack of independent, impartial and thorough investigations into these allegations of inhuman treatment and other human rights violations, as well as the failure to provide effective remedies to detainees and their families.

“The unprecedented level of repression must stop,” the experts said. “The international community must demand that Belarus comply with its international human rights obligations to ensure truth, justice and reparation for victims of human rights violations.”