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Prominent lawyer steps down as president of human rights association
October 17, Pozirk. Maryja Kolesava-Hudzilina has stepped down as president of the Belarusian Association of Human Rights Lawyers, an association formed in April 2023 by defense attorneys who fled Belarus fearing reprisals.
The move comes days after security forces raided her home in the Minsk region.
On October 8, media reported that Committee for State Security agents and riot police officers raided the Žodzina apartment where she is registered.
In Belarus, Kolesava-Hudzilina defended Eduard Palčys, Jaŭhien Juškievič, Dźmitryj Papoŭ and other high-profile opposition figures. Authorities disbarred her and declared her Instagram page extremist.
Last night, the association said on Telegram that Kolesava-Hudzilina is no longer its president. She later took to Facebook to announce that she had left the association on Friday on her own initiative.
The government has cracked down on lawyers after the 2020 disputed presidential election. Alaksandar Łukašenka said that lawyers must be under government control and act according to the law and “not according to some invented norms – freedom of speech and other freedoms.”
The number of defense attorneys dropped in four years in Belarus from 2,200 to 1,650 in January 2024, the Prava na Abaronu advocacy group reported.
In April, Deputy Justice Minister Mikałaj Staravojtaŭ said that the country’s 1,588 lawyers are providing “professional legal assistance to all those who need it.”
