Human rights defender and member of Human Rights Center “Viasna” Andrei Chapiuk has safely left Belarus, one month after his release from prison. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders express their deep relief that Andrei Chapiuk is no longer at immediate risk of further repression but recall that several other Viasna members, including its leaders, remain arbitrarily detained for their legitimate human rights activities in Belarus.
Paris-Geneva, 10 June 2025 - On 18 April 2025, Andrei Chapiuk, a volunteer of Human Rights Center “Viasna”, was due to be released from prison after fully serving his sentence. However, instead of regaining his complete liberty and freedom of movement, upon his release Andrei was immediately apprehended, handcuffed and taken in for renewed interrogations by officers of the Main Department for Combating Organised Crime and Corruption (GUBAZIK). In a video showing Andrei’s release, published on a pro-government Telegram channel, Andrei is also verbally harassed and told that “nobody” needed him, other than his parents. Andrei was subsequently placed under "preventive supervision", prohibiting him from leaving the country. In light of the continued and escalating reprisals, Andrei Chapiuk was forced to leave Belarus to ensure his safety.
The Observatory recalls that Andrei Chapiuk was arbitrarily arrested and detained on 2 October 2020 by officers of the GUBAZIK, in retaliation for his peaceful human rights activities as a Viasna volunteer. Despite the lack of evidence, authorities spent a year and a half attempting to fabricate charges against him, eventually accusing him of "participating in mass riots" and "involvement in a criminal organisation". On 6 September 2022, after four and a half months of closed court hearings and almost two years of pre-trial detention, Andrei Chapiuk was convicted and sentenced to six years in a maximum-security colony and a fine of 16,000 Belarusian rubles (approximately 4,300 Euros) by the Minsk City Court for the aforementioned charges.
Andrei Chapiuk lodged an appeal against this sentence to the Supreme Court of Belarus, and on 18 February 2023, the Supreme Court ruled to slightly reduce Andrei Chapiuk’s prison sentence from six years to five years and nine months. During his imprisonment, Andrei Chapiuk was subjected to harsh conditions, including punitive isolation.
Upon his scheduled release in April 2025, Andrei Chapiuk was again detained for interrogation in a new "political case" and placed under “preventive supervision”, a form of post-release control that includes mandatory police registration, movement restrictions, and bans on employment and housing, effectively continuing his punishment outside prison walls. The Minsk City Court recognised him as a "malicious violator of prison rules" and included him in the country’s "extremist and terrorist" lists, and banned him from leaving the country. He has faced impossible living conditions as he could not get a regular bank card, get an official job, or rent a house. Andrei Chapiuk made the difficult decision to leave the country where staying meant continued persecution and deprivation of basic civil and political rights.
Andrei Chapiuk should never have spent a single day behind bars as he was arrested for his peaceful human rights activities, nor been forced to flee his home. The systematic persecution of Viasna members and other human rights defenders has left no space for independent civil society: those not imprisoned are forced into exile, and “preventive supervision” ensures that even released political prisoners or peaceful activists remain under constant threat.
The severe repression against Viasna, which currently has four of its members behind bars, remains deeply concerning. On 6 September 2022, the Minsk City Court sentenced Marfa Rabkova to 15 years in prison. Among other charges, Marfa Rabkova was found guilty of "organising, participating in and training others to participate in mass riots", "inciting social hostility towards the government", and "involvement in a criminal organisation". On 14 July 2021, the Belarusian authorities arbitrarily detained Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Viasna chairperson Ales Bialiatski, FIDH Vice President Valiantsin Stefanovic, and Viasna lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich in an unprecedented raid against Belarusian civil society. Convicted on fabricated charges and sentenced to 10, nine and seven years of imprisonment respectively on 3 March 2023, they remain unlawfully imprisoned at the time of publication of this statement and are regularly subjected to severe harassment and ill-treatment.
The reprisals against Viasna and its members are part of a broader crackdown on civil society in Belarus, especially following the mass protests against the falsified 2020 Presidential elections. In the aftermath of the protests, the authorities shut down all human rights and other independent organisations, leaving not one legally operating human rights NGO in the country. Viasna is one of the leading Belarusian human rights organisations and is at the forefront of the Belarusian human rights movement. According to the organisation, as of 6 June 2025, 1175 individuals remain detained in the country for political reasons, including Nasta Loika, according to the information of national human rights organisations.
The Observatory expresses its deep relief that Andrei Chapiuk is in safety but reiterates its strong condemnation of the ongoing crackdown against human rights defenders in Belarus and underlines that the politically motivated, arbitrary and severe harassment and ill-treatment of human rights defenders and political prisoners in general in Belarusian prisons need to stop immediately.
The Observatory calls on the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Marfa Rabkova, Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich, as well as all other human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in Belarus, and to put an end to all acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against them and all Viasna members.
The Observatory finally calls on the authorities in Belarus to ensure that human rights defenders can carry out their legitimate activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions or being forced to exile.
