Twelve new names put on list of political prisoners

Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community

August 8, 2022

In response to an increase in the number of cases of conviction and imprisonment of individuals under a number of defamatory articles of the Criminal Code, as well as for insulting state symbols of the Republic of Belarus, and other actions aimed at the lawful exercising of freedom of expression we, representatives of the Belarusian human rights community demand to put an end to the persecution for legitimate expression of views and, reaffirming our repeated calls to decriminalize defamation and to refrain from imposing terms of imprisonment for insulting officials, the state, government agencies and symbols (as mentioned in the Joint statement of December 22, 2020), note the following:

At the moment we know about the following persons imprisoned for having allegedly insulted Mr. Aliaksandr Lukashenka, police officers, judges, desecrated state ans state symbols, and exercised their freedom of opinion in other forms:

1. Mr. Ivan Karabelnikau—convicted of ‘desecrating structures and bringing damage to property’ under Article 341 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 3 months of imprisonment for writing NO WAR on the fence.
2. Mr. Artsiom Kalashuk—convicted of ‘insulting the President’, ‘insulting a prosecutor’, and ‘insulting a judge’ under Articles 368, 369, and 391 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to eight months of imprisonment.
3. Mr. Barys Kaizer—convicted of ‘insulting the President’ under Article 368 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 15 months of imprisonment.
4. Mr. Dzmitryi Kryvulka—convicted of ‘insulting the President’ under Article 368 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment.
5. Mr. Siarhei Ananneu—convicted of ‘threatening an employee of the internal affairs bodies’ under Article 364 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to three years of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility for expressing an opinion that did not threaten an internal affairs officer.
6. Mr. Yauhen Litskevich—convicted of ‘insulting a police officer’ under Article 369 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 2.5 years of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility; sent to serve his sentence.
7. Mr. Uladzislau Shalabanau—accused of ‘interfering in the activities of a police officer’ and taken into custody under Article 365 of the Criminal Code for expressing an opinion that did not threaten a government official.
8. Mr. Siarhei Siasitski—accused of ‘insulting the President’taken into custody under Article 368 of the Criminal Code.
9. Mr. Vital Hryhal—taken into custody in Zeltser case.
10. Mr. Aliaksandr Puhach—accused of ‘insulting a government official’ and ‘insulting the President’ and taken into custody under Articles 369 and 368 of the Criminal Code.
11. Mr. Siarhei Skakun—accused of ‘insulting a judge’ and taken into custody under Article 391 of the Criminal Code.
12. Mr. Pavel Varapai—convicted of ‘insulting the President’, ‘insulting a government official’, ‘insulting a judge’, and ‘defamation’ under Articles 368, 369,391, and 188 of the Criminal Code accordingly and sentenced to three years of imprisonment.

We consider the persecution and imprisonment of the persons listed above politically motivated in connection with the peaceful exercise of their views, and the convicts as political prisoners per paragraph 3.1 (a) of the Guidelines on the Definition of Political Prisoners. We, therefore, call on the Belarusian authorities to:

1. Immediately release the political prisoner Mr. Ivan Karabelnikau, Mr. Artsiom Kalashuk, Mr. Barys Kaizer, Mr. Dzmitryi Kryvulka, Mr. Siarhei Ananneu, Mr. Yauhen Litskevich, Mr. Uladzislau Shalabanau, Mr. Siarhei Siasitski, Mr. Vital Hryhal, Mr. Aliaksandr Puhach, Mr. Siarhei Skakun, and Mr. Pavel Varapai and stop the criminal prosecution against them.
2. decriminalize defamation offenses and abolish articles of the Criminal Code that provide for liability for insulting the state and state symbols, namely Articles 188, 189, 367, 368, 369, 369-1, 370, and 391 of the Criminal Code, and stop all ongoing criminal cases under these articles;
3. Immediately release all political prisoners and stop political repression.

Human Rights Center Viasna

Belarusian Helsinki Committee

PEN Belarus

Legal Initiative