Four years after Marfa Rabkova’s arbitrary detention, repression against Viasna members must end
Four years ago, on September 17, 2020, Viasna member Marfa Rabkova was arbitrarily detained. To this day, she remains unlawfully imprisoned. On the fourth anniversary of her detention, the Observatory for the protection of human rights defenders (FIDH-OMCT) and Viasna reiterate their call for her immediate and unconditional release, as well as the release of the other four Viasna members detained and all human rights defenders arbitrarily imprisoned in Belarus.
In the evening of September 17, 2020, Marfa Rabkova was violently detained by members of the Main Department for Combating Organised Crime and Corruption, a unit of the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Viasna volunteer Andrey Chapiuk was arbitrarily arrested on October 2, 2020, just two weeks after Marfa’s detention. Marfa Rabkova was charged under ten articles of the Criminal Code, and Andrey Chapiuk under four, both for allegedly organising criminal groups between 2016 and 2020.
On September 6, 2022, after four and a half months of closed court hearings and almost two years of pre-trial detention, the Minsk City Court sentenced Marfa Rabkova and Andrey Chapiuk to 15 and six years in prison, respectively. Among other charges, Marfa Rabkova was found guilty of “organising, participating in and training others to participate in mass riots”, “inciting social hostility towards the government” and “involvement in a criminal organisation”; Andrey Chapiuk was found guilty of “participating in mass riots” and “involvement in a criminal organisation”. Over the two years spent in pre-trial detention, Marfa Rabkova’s health deteriorated significantly due to the lack of adequate medical care. Over months, she was denied dental treatment, and suffered from abdominal pain and inflamed lymph nodes on her neck. Marfa Rabkova’s current state of health remains unknown. While in detention she has been also regularly denied to meet with her family members.
Marfa Rabkova and Andrey Chapiuk lodged an appeal against this sentence to the Supreme Court of Belarus. On February 28, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled to reduce Mr Chapiuk’s prison sentence from six years to five years and nine months, and that of Ms Rabkova from 15 years to 14 years and nine months. Since the hearing was held behind closed doors, the grounds for the Supreme Court’s decision remain unknown. Marfa Rabkova is serving her prison sentence in a general-security penal colony in Homiel, and Andrey Chapiuk in the medium-security penal colony of Ivacevičy, Brest Region. On August 14, 2024, Andrey Chapiuk was placed in a punitive isolation cell (SHIZO) for 10 days for an alleged violation of the clothing regulations just before a meeting with his parents. Additionally, both human rights defenders were included in the “terrorist list” by the Belarusian authorities in March 2023 and cannot receive money transfers.
Marfa Rabkova’s detention seems to be a reprisal for her work as a coordinator of the volunteer services at the Human Rights Center Viasna. Together with her colleagues, Marfa Rabkova monitored peaceful assemblies and took an active part in the campaign of independent monitoring of the August 9, 2020 elections called "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections". She also participated in documenting evidence of torture and other inhuman treatment of participants detained during the post-election demonstrations in Belarus.
The arbitrary arrest and detention of Marfa Rabkova four years ago marked the beginning of the brutal repression against the Human Rights Centre Viasna which currently has five of its members behind bars. On July 14, 2021, the Belarusian authorities detained Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Viasna chairperson Ales Bialiatski, FIDH Vice President Valiantsin Stefanovic and Viasna lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich in an unprecedented raid against Belarusian civil society. Convicted on fabricated charges to heavy prison terms, they remain unlawfully imprisoned at the date of publication of this statement, and are regularly subjected to severe harassment and ill-treatment.
The reprisals against Viasna and its members are part of a broader crackdown on civil society in Belarus, especially 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. According to the organisation, as of September 17, 2024, 1358 individuals remained detained in the country for political reasons according to the information of national human rights organisations.
The Observatory and Viasna reiterate their strong condemnation of the arbitrary imprisonment of Marfa Rabkova, and urge the authorities to quash her sentence and release her immediately and unconditionally. The Observatory and Viasna further urge the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Viasna members Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic, Uladzimir Labkovich and Andrey Chapiuk, as well as all other human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in Belarus.
The organisations underline that the politically motivated, arbitrary and severe harassment and ill-treatment of human rights defenders and political prisoners in general in Belarusian prisons needs to stop immediately, and urge the Belarusian authorities to respect all their international human rights obligations.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.
Human Rights Center "Viasna" is a leading human rights group founded in 1996 in Belarus, monitoring and documenting human rights violations, supporting victims of repression. Viasna has faced harassment and interference from the Belarusian authorities throughout its existence.
