Belarus: Arbitrary Detention and Judicial Harassment of Belarusian Human Rights Defender Uladzimir Tselyapun

The Observatory has been informed about the ongoing arbitrary detention and judicial harassment by the Belarusian authorities of Mr Uladzimir Tselyapun, an activist and human rights defender from the city of Mazyr, Homiel Region, known for defending the rights of people affected by the Chernobyl disaster and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.

In early April 2026, Uladzimir Tselyapun was arrested by the Belarusian authorities under unknown circumstances. Reportedly held at the temporary detention facility of the Mazyr District Police Department for several days first, Uladzimir Tselyapun was subsequently transferred to pre-trial detention center nr. 3 in Homiel.

On 4 May 2026, the Homiel branch of Human Rights Center “Viasna” reported that a criminal investigation had been launched against Uladzimir Tselyapun for “slander against the president” (Article 367 of the Belarusian Criminal Code) and for “facilitating extremist activities” (Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code), punishable by up to five and seven years of imprisonment, respectively. To this day, the essence of the charges remains unknown, raising serious concerns regarding due process guarantees and the politically motivated nature of the case.

The Observatory notes with great concern that 70-year old Uladzimir Tselyapun is in remission from cancer and requires ongoing medical care. Continued detention and the notoriously harsh detention conditions in Belarusian facilities may place him at heightened risk of irreversible harm and may amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment if adequate medical care is not provided.

The Observatory recalls that since 2020, Uladzimir Tselyapun has been regularly subjected to judicial harassment. On 15 January 2025, he was arrested and sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention for “distributing extremist materials” (part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Belarusian Code of Administrative Offenses), spending his 70th birthday in detention. Earlier, Uladzimir Tselyapun was arrested in November 2023, but released after three days. On 6 and 16 September 2022, the Mazyr District Court sentenced him to administrative detention under Article 19.11 twice in a row for a Facebook post referring to the website of Viasna’s regional office in the Palesia region, resulting in over three weeks of continuous arbitrary detention. In 2021 and 2022, his apartment was searched several times.

Uladzimir Tselyapun lives at approximately 110 km from the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. In 1986, he participated in cleanup operations following the accident, for which he was awarded the Chernobyl Cross by the Chernobyl Union of Ukraine. Throughout his career, Uladzimir Tselyapun has defended the rights of those affected by the Chernobyl disaster, as well as the freedom of assembly, including by engaging in trial monitoring following the 2020 crackdown in Belarus, and the rights of persons with disabilities.

The Observatory also recalls that the harassment of Uladzimir Tselyapun is emblematic of the systematic persecution of human rights defenders and other civil society actors in Belarus, including the unlawful imprisonment, politically motivated prosecution and intimidation of human rights defenders. Despite the recent releases, as of 8 June 2026, almost always followed by deportations, over 870 individuals recognised as political prisoners by Human Rights Center “Viasna” remain behind bars, and up to 600,000 Belarusians have been forced to flee the country since May 2020. Against this backdrop, on 12 March 2026, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced its decision to open an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed by the Belarusian authorities.

The Observatory strongly condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment against Uladzimir Tselyapun which appears to aim at silencing his legitimate human rights activities, and urges the Belarusian authorities to immediately put an end to all acts of persecution against him.