Trials of activists and opposition leaders are mere retaliation, FIDH says

  • by EECA
  • 22 July 2021

On June 24, a trial of several imprisoned leaders of the Belarusian protest movement began at the Homiel detention centre. The defendants include one of the leaders of the protest movement Siarhei Tsikhanouski, 2010 Presidential candidate Mikalai Statkevich, journalist Ihar Losik, blogger Uladzimir Tsyhanovich, social media editor Dmitry Popov (a citizen of Russia), and a member of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskаya’s presidential elections nomination group Artsiom Sakau. As such, the detention centre became yet another forum for retaliation against pro-democracy activists.

All of the defendants are involved in the so-called “Tsikahouski’s case” — an umbrella title for dozens of politically motivated criminal cases initiated against democratic opposition and civil society activists in Belarus amid the presidential elections campaign accompanied by protests in May-June 2020. All defendants got arrested before the August 2020 protests and have already spent more than a year behind bars. The activists are indicted with various charges while Tsikhanouski and Popov face up to 15 years in prison.

FIDH believes that the ongoing trial is politically motivated, which is why, together with its member organisation in Belarus Viasna Human Rights Centre, it calls for an immediate release of the accused activists, namely:

Siarhei Tsikhanouski, who is indicted for:
  Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code - Organisation of riots;
  Art. 342 of the Criminal Code - Organisation and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them;
  Art. 191 of the Criminal Code - Obstruction of the exercise of electoral rights;
  Art. 130 of the Criminal Code - Incitement to hatred;

Dmitry Popov, who is indicted for:
  Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code - Organization of riots;
  Art. 342 of the Criminal Code - Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them;
  Art. 191 of the Criminal Code - Obstruction of the exercise of electoral rights;
  Art. 130 of the Criminal Code - Incitement to hatred;

Ihar Losik, who is indicted for:
  Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code - Participation in riots;
  Art. 342 of the Criminal Code - Organisation and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them;
  Unknown article;

Mikalai Statkevich, who is indicted for:
  Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code - Participation in riots;
  Art. 342 of the Criminal Code - Organisation and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them;

Uladzimir Tsyhanovich, who is indicted for:
  Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code - Participation in riots;
  Art. 342 of the Criminal Code - Organisation and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them;

Artsiom Sakau, who is indicted for:
  Art. 342 of the Criminal Code - Organisation and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them;

Why do we believe this case is politically motivated?

1) All the defendants are political activists or journalists, and were somehow involved in the presidential campaign last year on behalf of candidates who were seeking to challenge long-time dictator Aliaksandr Lukashenka. They have been arrested either before, during, or after the protest actions and peaceful rallies held in May-June, and which they are believed to have organised, participated in or covered in media.

FIDH recalls that under the Articles 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference, to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds; the right to assemble peacefully in order to express political opinions is also protected. It appears that this is exactly what the defendants did by organising peaceful protests and rallies in support of political opponents of Lukashenka, participating in protests and covering these events in the media.

At no time has any reliable evidence been presented to prove that the activity of any of the defendants violated any of the aforementioned ICCPR provisions, or that they committed any act disturbing to public order or safety warranting state interference. Therefore, and in light of the political views and activities of the defendants, namely their anti-government position, FIDH believes that the Belarusian authorities continue to utilise the country’s legal system to persecute the opposition activists.

2) Further evidence of the politically motivated nature of the trial consists in numerous violations of the right to fair trial. The details of the defendants’ criminal cases are highly scarce and believed to be intentionally hidden from the public. For instance, one of the charges in the case of Ihar Losik remains unknown to the public.

Moreover, some of the activists’ lawyers have been forced to sign non-disclosure agreements, meaning they are not allowed to share the case details. Notably, former lawyer of Mikalai Statkevich, Uladzimir Sazanchuk, got his license revoked for having refused to sign such an agreement.

The secrecy surrounding the criminal investigation, coupled with the closed court hearing conducted right in the detention centre instead of a regular court, further hints at the politically motivated nature of the proceedings.

Other individuals involved in “Tsikhanouski’s case”

Several individuals tied to the Tsikhanouski’s case have already been sentenced or are being tried in other venues. For instance, activist Pavel Seviarynets was sentenced to 7 years in prison on May 25, 2021, allegedly for participating in mass riots (Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code). The criminal case against Seviarynets, as well as against Yauhen Afnahel, Andrei Voinich, Pavel Yukhnevich, and Maksim Viniarski—who received from 5 to 7 years of prison sentence—are believed to be related to the ongoing case of Tsikhanouski, Statkevich, Losik, Tsyhanovich, Popov, and Sakau. Other defendants believed to be involved in Tsikhanouski’s case are Uladzimir Niaronski (3 years), Siarhei Piatrukhin and Aliaksandr Kabanau (3 years), Volha Paulava (3 years of home confinment), Dzmitry Furmanau (2 years), Yauhen Raznichenka (3.5 years), Uladzimir Kniha (4 years), Aliaksandr Aranovich (6 years), Dzmitry Kazlou (5 years).

FIDH believes that the legal harassment of all the aforementioned activists is also politically motivated for all the same reasons, and calls for their immediate release, as well as the release of all 579 political prisoners in Belarus, including at least 34 human rights defenders.