Today marks two years since Viasna members Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich were convicted and sentenced to heavy prison sentences following an unfair trial under fabricated charges. On this occasion, the Observatory for the protection of human rights defenders (FIDH-OMCT) reiterates its call for their immediate and unconditional release, and for the end of the targeting of all Belarusian human rights defenders.
Paris-Geneva, 3 March, 2025 – Two years ago, on 3 March 2023, judge Maryna Zapasnik from the Lieninski District Court of Minsk sentenced Ales Bialiatski, Chairman of the Human Rights Center Viasna and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Valiantsin Stefanovic, Deputy Head of Viasna and Vice-President of FIDH, and Uladzimir Labkovich, a lawyer at Viasna, to ten, nine, and seven years of imprisonment, respectively.
The conviction of the three human rights defenders was based on fabricated charges of “smuggling by an organised group” and “financing of group actions grossly violating the public order”.Their sentences were upheld on appeal on 21 April 2023 by the Minsk Municipal Court.
The Observatory recalls that the three human rights defenders were arbitrarily arrested on 14 July 2021 as part of coordinated raids and arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders, journalists and civil society organisations, and spent almost 18 months in pre-trial arbitrary detention before the beginning of their trial on 5 January 2023. Since their arrest, Messrs Bialiatski, Stefanovic and Labkovich have been arbitrarily detained in appalling conditions, in which their state of health has deteriorated significantly.
The reprisals against Viasna and its members are part of a broader crackdown on civil society in Belarus 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. Viasna is also a recipient of numerous prestigious awards for its adamant stand for human rights and democracy, including the Right Livelihood Award (2020) and the “Justice for Democracy Advocates” Albie Award (2022).
As part as the harassment against the organisation, Viasna members Marfa Rabkova and Andrei Chapiuk have been arbitrarily detained since 17 September and 2 October 2020, respectively, on charges of allegedly organising criminal groups between 2016 and 2020. On 6 September 2022, the Minsk City Court sentenced Marfa Rabkova to 15 years in prison and Andrei Chapiuk six years in prison. Likewise, Leanid Sudalenka, head of Viasna’s regional office in Homiel, was arbitrarily detained and released only in July 2023, after serving his three-year sentence in full.
The Observatory strongly condemns the unfair conviction and ongoing arbitrary detention of Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic, Uladzimir Labkovich, Marfa Rabkova and Andrei Chapiuk, and denounces the politically motivated, arbitrary and severe harassment and ill-treatment they have been subjected to since the beginning of their detention.
The Observatory urges the Belarusian authorities to quash their sentences, to immediately and unconditionally release them and all other prisoners in Belarus convicted under politically motivated charges, and to put an end to all acts of harassment against them, including at the judicial level. The Observatory further urges the Belarusian authorities to respect all their international human rights obligations, and calls on the international community to use all available measures to ensure that justice, accountability and reparations are provided to all human rights defenders arbitrarily imprisoned in Belarus.
