Ahead of the third anniversary on 14 July of the imprisonment of Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ales Bialiatski, Chairperson of Human Rights Centre Viasna, whose health is reportedly rapidly deteriorating, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said:
“As we prepare to mark three years since the detention of Ales Bialiatski and his colleagues, we remain deeply concerned about their wellbeing. We once again demand their immediate and unconditional release and urgently request they are granted immediate access to adequate healthcare and their lawyers and relatives.”
As we prepare to mark three years since the detention of Ales Bialiatski and his colleagues, we remain deeply concerned about their wellbeing
Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia
In early May 2023, Ales Bialiatski was transferred to penal colony No. 9 in Horki. The colony’s administration has refused to accept parcels containing medical supplies from Ales Bialiatski’s relatives, leaving his state of health, already impacted by a previous politically motivated imprisonment, in danger.
“Ales and his colleagues were targeted for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association and undertaking vital work to protect human rights. The charges of smuggling and accusations of financing activities that allegedly disrupted public order are baseless, and their convictions represent a grave miscarriage of justice. Their continued detention is nothing more than a blatant abuse of the criminal justice system, aimed at stifling dissent and suppressing civil society in Belarus.”
Background
Ales Bialiatski was arrested on 14 July 2021, along with his deputy at Viasna, Valiantsin Stefanovich, and Viasna’s lawyer, Uladzimir Labkovich. The three were prosecuted amid their efforts to document widespread abuses by Belarusian authorities during and following mass peaceful protests in 2020 against the widely disputed presidential election results. Viasna, the biggest human rights group in the country, became instrumental in exposing and documenting the government’s harsh crackdown. The organization’s work highlighted instances of arbitrary arrests, torture, other ill-treatment and unfair trials.
For more information on their case, see here.