Belarus slams UN’s Viasna demand

January 9, BPN. Belarus’ mission to the United Nations Office at Geneva has criticized the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) for demanding that that Nobel Peace Prize winner Aleś Bialacki and his allies should be freed.

“Mission of Belarus calls on OHCHR to refrain from biased comments, considered as a pressure on judiciary and interference in internal affairs of state. UN Charter doesn’t authorize Secretariat to intervene in matters which are within domestic jurisdiction of any sovereign state,” it tweeted.

On January 6, the OHCHR demanded that Belarus should release the jailed human rights defenders. “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 said.

On January 5, a court in Minsk began hearing the case case against Aleś Bialacki and his associates Valancin Stefanovič, Uładzimir Łabkovič and Źmicier Sałaŭjoŭ. Authorities accuse Bialacki of smuggling cash across the border and financing protests. The head of the Viasna Human Rights Center sits in the dock with Stefanovič and Łabkovič, while Sałaŭjoŭ, who has fled the country, is tried in absentia.