The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of Belarus on 6 June 2024. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. The Government replied on 30 July 2024, which was recently translated and made available.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the alleged arbitrary arrests and detentions and other alleged violations of a human rights defender, whose name is redacted for safety reasons. Other alleged violations include home and personal searches, and involuntary hospitalization, as well as the alleged enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, grave detention conditions, denial of access to legal assistance, other due process violations, and the alleged smear campaign against him on state television, all reportedly in connection with his legitimate human rights work and the exercise of the right to freedom of expression.
Mr. [redacted] is a Belarusian human rights defender and lawyer. He provided legal assistance in human rights cases, monitored trials and elections, and documented human rights violations.
ALLEGATIONS
Alleged events of November 2023
Around 10 a.m. on 9 November 2023, the human rights defender was allegedly arrested near the front door of his apartment building in the city of Baranavichy, in Brest region, by two police officers acting without an arrest warrant.
Police officers and officers of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption within the Ministry of Internal Affairs (“GUBOPiK”) then searched his apartment pursuant to a warrant related to an investigation under article 341 of the Criminal Code (“desecration of structures and property damage”). They suspected his involvement in writing protest messages on Uborevicha Street in Baranavichy from 31 October to 1 November 2023. However, according to the information received, no specific messages were mentioned or provided, and the connection to the human rights defender was neither substantiated nor explained, suggesting that this was merely a pretext for the search.
The search was allegedly conducted with procedural violations. The human rights defender was not asked to voluntarily surrender the sought items, and the search covered all premises simultaneously without his or witnesses’ presence. Seized items included two laptops, two phones, a disc, four notebooks with “No to Death Penalty” inscriptions and a link to a human rights campaign against the death penalty, carrier bags with an independent trade union logo, trade union leaflets, and some printed materials. According to the information received, despite the human rights defender’s requests, the police refused to provide him with a copy of the search report.
After the search, the human rights defender was taken to the Department of Internal Affairs of the Baranavichy City Executive Committee. According to the information received, despite his request for a lawyer and his demand to have the grounds for his detention, as well as his rights and obligations explained to him, no such information was provided, and his requests were ignored.
Around 8 pm on the same day, the human rights defender was brought to the Baranavichy temporary detention center and informed about the charges. He was allegedly subjected to a degrading personal search, which involved being required to strip naked and squat down with all clothes off. The human rights defender was also interrogated by the GUBOPiK. He was reportedly made to stand facing the wall with his legs wide apart, arms raised, and the backs of his hands against the wall, while being questioned. He allegedly responded to all questions with the statement, “I need a lawyer”. After each such request, he was allegedly hit on the head with a fist, approximately 15 times in total. Persons associated with the human rights defender have only determined his whereabouts on 10 November 2023.
On 10 November 2023, a police officer presented the human rights defender with an administrative offense report under part 2 of article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“distribution of information products included in the republican list of extremist materials, as well as manufacturing, publishing, storage, or transportation for the purpose of distribution of such information products”). This was related to storing and intending to distribute four notebooks labeled “No to Death Penalty”. According to the police, the weblink displayed on the notebooks had been designated as an extremist material by court because of its connection with a human rights organization designated as an “extremist group”. The officer reportedly told the human rights defender that he would also face penalties for bags with the trade union logo and leaflets, hinting at future administrative detentions or criminal charges.
The same day, the Baranavichy District and Baranavichy City Court sentenced him to 15 days of administrative detention. The trial was allegedly conducted via a conference call. According to the information received, the human rights defender was allowed to be represented by his lawyer at the hearing but had no prior or later access to legal assistance until the end of his detention. The human rights defender unsuccessfully appealed the court decision.
According to the information received, conditions in the human rights defender’s cell were harsh: lights were always on, no bedding or mattresses were provided, drinking water was unavailable, hygiene products were scarce, and the temperature was 15°C. The detainees were allegedly woken up every two hours at night to state their names and not allowed to sit on their beds during the day.
On 13 November 2023, the human rights defender sat on his bed during the day. As punishment, he and his cellmates were allegedly put on the lower tier of the bed and handcuffed to each other through the upper tier, causing them to sit with their hands raised up for approximately half a day.
On 14 November 2023, the human rights defender refused to have lunch in the cell, and the detention facility staff allegedly poured soup on the floor inside the cell.
According to the information received, the human rights defender was unable to file a complaint about the detention conditions as he was denied access to legal assistance and writing materials. On 16 November 2023, it became known that he began a hunger strike to protest violations of his rights. In response to the hunger strike, on 17 November 2023, the human rights defender was allegedly admitted to Baranovichi Psychoneurological Dispensary, without consent or a court order. According to the information received, he stayed there for three days, during which he was restrained to a bed for about three hours, coerced into taking medication under threat of prolonged hospitalization, and resumed eating. According to the medical statement dated 20 November 2023, provided to us, his diagnosis was “reaction to severe stress, and adjustment disorders” (ICD F43).
On 20 November 2023, the human rights defender was allegedly transferred back to the temporary detention center. He was reportedly released on 27 November 2023, three days after the detention term imposed by the court, as the three days he spent in the hospital were allegedly not counted toward his detention period.
Alleged events of March 2024
On the morning of 12 March 2024, police and GUBOPiK officers broke down the door of the human rights defender’s apartment in Baranavichy. They allegedly laid everyone present on the floor face down, including his son, ex-wife, and 73-year-old mother, and handcuffed them. The police allegedly hit the human rights defender’s ex-wife several times and beat him and his son.
The apartment was searched under a warrant allegedly issued in relation to the criminal case under article 361.1 of the Criminal Code (“establishment of or participation in an extremist group”) concerning the activities of a human rights organization designated as an “extremist group”. According to the information received, initially two witnesses were present, but the police asked them to sign a search report stating that nothing was seized and leave after just 20 minutes. After that, the search allegedly continued for another 40 minutes, and four mobile phones, a computer, and a printer were reportedly seized.
After the search, the human rights defender was arrested under a warrant issued in relation to the same criminal case. He and his son were allegedly taken to the Department of Internal Affairs of the Baranavichy City Executive Committee in handcuffs. They were seated in different rooms and interrogated by GUBOPiK officers about the human rights defender’s human rights work, in particular trial monitoring.
The human rights defender’s interrogation lasted approximately from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. He was brought home twice during this period to search for his cell phone, both times without witnesses and paperwork. GUBOPiK officers allegedly found and seized his phone. According to the information received, during the human rights defender’s interrogation, GUBOPiK officers beat him with their fists and feet, even while he was lying down, gagged him, and expressed regret for not having a stun gun. His son was also allegedly beaten. After the human rights defender and his son were deprived of their liberty, their fate and whereabouts were unknown to people associated to them, who could not obtain this information from authorities. It is only when the human rights defender’s son was released and returned home several hours later that these circumstances were clarified.
Around 7 p.m., the human rights defender was transferred to the Baranavichy temporary detention center, without receiving any documents regarding the charges against him. On 13 March 2024, at the trial, he discovered that he was accused under article 24.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“disobedience to a lawful order or requirement of an official in the exercise of his official powers”) for not opening the door to law enforcement officers. The Baranavichy District and Baranavichy City Court sentenced him to 15 days of administrative detention. According to the information received, the human rights defender was allowed to be represented by lawyer at the hearing, but had no prior or later access to legal assistance until the end of his detention. The human rights defender unsuccessfully appealed the court decision.
In detention, walking, hygiene procedures, and showers were allegedly prohibited. the human rights defender was allegedly prevented from receiving food parcels, not provided a mattress or bedding, and prohibited from sitting or lying on his bed during the day. At night, his cell was allegedly constantly illuminated by bright light, and detainees were allegedly woken up every two hours to state their names and the articles under which they were convicted. The human rights defender was released on 27 March 2024.
According to the medical statement dated 27 March 2024, provided to us, the doctor confirmed that the human rights defender suffered an injury on 13 March 2024, resulting in a chest soft tissue contusion on the left side and post-traumatic neuralgia on the left side. The human rights defender did not file complaints because he feared police harassment.
On 3 April 2024, the All-National Television of Belarus (ONT TV Channel) released a video report about the arrest of the human rights defender and several other individuals. The report was titled “GUBOPiK Comes to Viasna: Special Unit ‘STORM’ Fighters Arrested Extremist Human Rights Defenders”. The report shows officers of the special riot police unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs breaking down the door of the human rights defender’s apartment and arresting him, immobilized and lying on the floor. The report alleges that he was “an accomplice of the extremist organization”, supposedly collecting and passing on personal data of participants in trials to human rights defenders from the human rights organization designated as an “extremist group”.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our grave concern at the alleged arbitrary arrests and detentions of the human rights defender’s home and personal searches, and involuntary hospitalization, as well as the alleged enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, grave detention conditions, denial of access to legal assistance, other due process violations, and the alleged smear campaign against him on state television, all of which appear to be related to his legitimate human rights work and the exercise of the freedom of expression.
We are deeply concerned that this case is not an isolated instance of detention and ill-treatment of lawyers dealing with politically motivated cases.[1] The shortfalls of the legislative framework on administrative offences allow the law enforcement and security agencies to deprive the lawyers of liberty, while circumventing the procedural guarantees, as enshrined in the criminal procedural legislation. For instance, lack of obligation of the authorities to provide the detained person with a lawyer or lax obligations to inform the family of the detained person may be misused to the extent that the situation would amount to enforced disappearance. In this regard, it must be recalled that, in order to constitute an enforced disappearance, the deprivation of liberty of the person concerned must be followed by a refusal to acknowledge such deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law, regardless of the duration of the said deprivation of liberty or concealment.
We also express our utmost concern regarding the continuous intimidation and harassment of the human rights defenders in Belarus in connection to their human rights work, as highlighted in a number of recent opinions of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concerning Belarus.[2] We remain concerned at the chilling effect that this might have on human rights defenders in Belarus, discouraging them from exercising their rights.
[1] OHCHR, Situation of human rights in Belarus in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath, A/HRC/55/61, para. 21.
[2] Opinions No. 45/2023; No. 64/2023; and No. 24/2022.
