Rights group demands end to criminal prosecution of exiled activist

November 8, Pozirk. A new criminal charge against human rights defender Leanid Sudalenka is linked to his “public condemnation” of the ” Belarusian authorities’ repressive policy against political opponents and dissidents,” the Viasna Human Rights Center said in a statement.

It stressed the inadmissibility of using anti-extremist legislation to punish activists and human rights defenders for their lawful activities and using the law as a means of politically-motivated persecution.

Viasna also condemned “extremist” labels that Belarusian authorities attach to democratic public initiatives, human rights organizations and media outlets to criminalize their activities and incriminate those who cooperate with them.

In early November, the Belarusian authorities filed a new extremism-related charge against exiled Sudalenka.

The human rights defender left the country weeks after his release from prison where he had served a two-and-a-half-year prison term in a politically-motivated case.