UN human rights office demands release of Viasna leaders

January 7, BPN. Belarusian authorities must release Ales Bialacki and his associates Valancin Stefanovič, Uładzimir Łabkovič, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

“Suffice to say that we consider these to be arbitrary arrests – constitute arbitrary detention – and the charges are simply politically motivated,” OHCHR spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told journalists on January 6.

The trial of the Viasna Human Rights Center’s leaders opened on January 5 at the Leninski District Court in Minsk.

Authorities accuse Bialacki of smuggling cash across the border and financing protests. His associates Stefanovič and Łabkovič are tried as part of the same case, while Źmicier Sałaŭjoŭ, who has fled the country, is tried in absentia.

Bialacki, Stefanovič and Łabkovič were arrested in July 2021 on tax evasion charges, which were dropped in September 2022, only to be followed by accusations of smuggling.

Last October, Bialacki won the Nobel Peace Prize together with human rights organizations Memorial, Russia, and Center for Civil Liberties, Ukraine.