Eleven more political prisoners in Belarus over defamation charges

Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community

August 8, 2023

The Belarusian human rights community notes an increase in the number of convictions and imprisonments under several defamation and desecration of state symbols articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus and for other actions aimed at the lawful exercise of the freedom of expression.
 
We demand to put an end to the persecution of legitimate expression of views and, reaffirming our repeated calls to decriminalize defamation and to refrain from imposing custodial sentences 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 the state and state symbols, and exercised their freedom of opinion in other forms:

1. Mr. Robert Tampala was convicted under Articles 368 and 369 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to three years of imprisonment.
2. Mr. Aliaksandr Baravik was convicted under Article 369 of the Criminal Code of “insulting” Ivan and Uladzimir Kubrakou and sentenced to 12 months of imprisonment.
3. Mr. Mikhail Antsipau was convicted under Article 370 of the Criminal Code of “desecrating state symbols” and sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment.
4. Mr. Dzmitryi Belemuk was convicted under Articles 130, 368, and 369 of the Criminal Code for social media comments and sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment.
5. Mr. Viachaslau Salodki was convicted under Article 368 of the Criminal Code of “insulting” Aliaksandr Lukashenka and sentenced to 12 months of imprisonment.
6. Mr. Aliaksandr Maliauka was convicted under Articles 368 and 370 of the Criminal Code of “insulting” Aliaksandr Lukashenka and “desecrating state symbols” and sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment.
7. Mr. Yauhen Bilabrouka was convicted under Article 368 of the Criminal Code of “insulting” Aliaksandr Lukashenka and sentenced to 12 months of imprisonment.
8. Mr. Siarhei Hutarenka was convicted under Article 188 of the Criminal Code of “defamation” and sentenced to imprisonment.
9. Mr. Viachaslau Rodzin was convicted of “insulting a police officer” and sentenced to 18 months of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary under Article 369 of the Criminal Code. He has started to serve his sentence.
10. Mr. Eduard Veramchuk was convicted under Articles 369 and 368 of the Criminal Code of “insulting” a government official and Aliaksandr Lukashenka and sentenced to 24 months of imprisonment.
11. Mr. Dzmitryi Papkou was convicted under Articles 367 and 368 of the Criminal Code of “insulting and slandering” Aliaksandr Lukashenka and sentenced to 24 months of imprisonment.

We consider the persecution and imprisonment of the named individuals to be politically motivated, related to the peaceful exercise of expressing thoughts, and consider them political prisoners per paragraph 3.1(a) of the Guidelines on the Definition of Political Prisoners. We demand from the Belarusian authorities:

1. Immediately release the political prisoners Mr. Robert Tampala, Mr. Aliaksandr Baravik, Mr. Mikhail Antsipau, Mr. Dzmitryi Belemuk, Mr. Viachaslau Salodki, Mr. Aliaksandr Maliauka, Mr. Yauhen Bilabrouka, Mr. Siarhei Hutarenka, Mr. Viachaslau Rodzin, Mr. Eduard Veramchuk, and Mr. Dzmitryi Papkou and stop the criminal prosecution against them.
2. Decriminalize defamation offenses and abolish the articles of the Criminal Code that institute 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 drop all ongoing criminal cases under these articles.
3. Immediately release all political prisoners and stop political repression.

Human Rights Center Viasna

Legal Initiative

Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House

Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Belarusian Helsinki Committee

PEN Belarus

Belarusian Association of Journalists

Lawtrend