Dozens of rights groups demand freedom for Bialacki, Stefanovič, Łabkovič

March 3, Pozirk. Thirty-six human rights organizations from various countries have demanded that political prisoners Aleś Bialacki, Valancin Stefanovič and Uładzimir Łabkovič of the Viasna Human Rights Center be immediately and unconditionally released.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) unveiled the joint statement today, on the anniversary of the activists’ sentencing.

The statement called on the international community “to use all available diplomatic, political and other means” to free Bialacki, his associates and all Belarusian political prisoners.

The Viasna case was “based on trumped-up charges and characterized by grave human rights violations, exposing the politically motivated and persecutory nature of the trial,” according to the signatories.

The human rights groups expressed “their grave concern over the unjust imprisonment” of Bialacki, Stefanovič and Łabkovič, noting “the high risk of torture and ill-treatment they face in detention”.

“In early May 2023, Aleś Bialacki was transferred from pre-trial detention center No. 1 to penal colony No. 9 in Horki, considered one of the harshest prisons in Belarus,” the statement reads.

The Horki colony, the groups said, “is well-known for its brutal conditions, especially for political prisoners, who are subjected to systematic harassment and ill-treatment, including incommunicado detention, isolation, and the unjustified and prolonged placement in punishment cells.”

“In November 2023, it became known that Aleś Bialacki was placed in a cell-type room (PKT) . . . For an extended period of time, he has been denied contact with his lawyer and his relatives, who cannot call and do not receive letters from him. Likewise, Aleś Bialacki apparently does not receive letters and parcels from outside. Currently, the prison administration refuses to accept parcels with medical supplies from Aleś Bialacki’s relatives, and Aleś Bialacki’s state of health remains unknown,” the statement emphasized.

The human rights groups also voiced concern about the condition of Stefanovič and Łabkovič.

Stefanovič “was forced to do extremely harmful and low-paid work” in Mahiloŭ’s Penal Colony No. 15. In January 2024, he was transferred to the colony’s internal prison (PKT), “where he is kept in a cell all the time, with only 30 minutes of outdoor time a day being allowed”.

“Valancin Stefanovič receives only mail or packages sent by his family, and all phone calls and family visits are banned,” the human rights groups said.

Recalling that the Viasna members were added to an extremism list, the groups stressed that after their arrest in July 2021, Bialacki, Stefanovič and Łabkovič spent 17 months “in appalling detention conditions, with severely restricted access to lawyers, medical assistance, and communication”.

“The reprisals against Viasna and its members are part of a broader crackdown on civil society in Belarus following the mass protests against the falsified 2020 presidential elections,” the statement reads.

“In the aftermath of the protests, the authorities shut down all human rights and other independent organizations, leaving not one legally operating human rights NGO in the country. Viasna is one of the leading Belarusian human rights organizations and is at the forefront of the Belarusian human rights movement”.

The human rights groups also demanded the immediate and unconditional release for Marfa Rabkova, a coordinator of Viasna’s volunteers, and Andrej Čapiuk, a volunteer.

In addition to the FIDH, the address was signed by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Memorial (Russia), Barys Zvozskaŭ Human Rights House, Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Lawtrend, Pravavaja Inicyjatyva, Belarusian PEN and other organizations.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aleś Bialacki was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on March 3, 2023, in a politically-motivated case; his deputy and FIDH Vice-President Stefanovič was sentenced to nine; coordinator of the Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections campaign Łabkovič received seven years. Źmicier Sałaŭjoŭ, a human rights defender who fled the country, was sentenced to eight years in absentia.

Rabkova was sentenced to 14 years and nine months behind bars in a case against “anarchists”; Čapiuk was sentenced to five years and nine months.

The Committee for State Security (KGB) added them to the list of “persons involved in terrorist activities”.

In August 2023, Viasna was declared an extremist group by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The ministry said the group, which documents and reports human rights violations, spreads extremism through online media and regional branches.