Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community
July 5, 2024
The Belarusian human rights community notes an increase in the number of convictions and imprisonments under several defamation and desecration of state symbols articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, and for other actions aimed at the lawful exercise of the freedom of expression.
We demand to put an end to the persecution of legitimate expression of views and, reaffirming our repeated calls to decriminalize defamation and to refrain from imposing custodial sentences for insulting officials, the state, government agencies, and symbols (as mentioned in the Joint statement of December 22, 2020), note the following:
At the moment we know about the following persons imprisoned for having insulted Alaksandr Łukašenka, government officials (police officers), judges, desecrated state ans state symbols, and exercised their freedom of opinion in other forms, including the conviction and punishment of:
- Dzmitry Puzikaŭ under Article 370 of the Criminal Code for tearing down the red-green flag; he was sentenced to 6 months of imprisonment in a penal colony;
- Dzianis Siemianichin under Article 368 of the Criminal Code for insulting A. Łukašenka; he was sentenced to one year in a penal colony;
- Dar’ja Zajac under Article 370 of the Criminal Code for burning a red-green flag; she was sentenced to one year of imprisonment in a penal colony;
- Valeryja Drahun under Article 370 of the Criminal Code for burning a red-green flag; she was sentenced to one year of imprisonment in a penal colony;
- Alena Karpienka under Article 367 of the Criminal Code for defamation of A. Łukašenka; she was sentenced to one year and six month of imprisonment in a penal colony;
- Andrej Karaloŭ under Article 368 of the Criminal Code for insulting A. Łukašenka; he was sentenced to two years in a penal colony;
- Anton Puhač under Articles 368 and 369 of the Criminal Code for insulting A. Łukašenka and an official; he was sentenced to one year and six month of imprisonment in a penal colony;
- Alena Dubroŭskaja under Article 368 of the Criminal Code for insulting A. Łukašenka; she was sentenced to one year and six month of imprisonment in a penal colony;
- Ivan Dziarnovič under Articles 367, 368, 369 of the Criminal Code for defamation of A. Łukašenka, an insult of A. Łukašenka and an official; he was sentenced to four years of imprisonment in a penal colony;
- Alaksandr Zacharčyk under Article 367 of the Criminal Code for defamation of A. Łukašenka; he was sentenced to 3 years of restriction of freedom in an open-type correctional institution and sent to serve his sentence;
- Jury Jurčuk under Article 368 of the Criminal Code for insulting A. Łukašenka; he was sentenced to restriction of freedom in an open-type correctional institution and sent to serve his sentence;
- Tacciana Makiejeva was placed in custody under Part 1 of Articles 342, 368, 369, 391 of the Criminal Code on charges of organizing mass events, insulting A. Łukašenka, an official, and a judge;
Human rights activists are also aware of a number of people who were sent to a psychiatric hospital for compulsory treatment under defamation articles: Rusłan Zholič under Articles 369, 368 of the Criminal Code, Dzmitry Siŭko under Article 369 of the Criminal Code, Alaksandr Ciupa, Ivan Mikša under Article 370 of the Criminal Code, Alaksandr Syryca under Article 369 of the Criminal Code.
We consider the persecution and imprisonment of the named individuals to be politically motivated, related to the peaceful exercise of expressing thoughts, and consider them political prisoners in accordance with paragraph 3.1(a) of the Guidelines on the Definition of Political Prisoners. We demand from the Belarusian authorities:
- immediately release political prisoners Dzmitry Puzikaŭ, Dzianis Siemianichin, Dar’ja Zajac, Valeryja Drahun, Alena Karpienka, Andrej Karaloŭ, Anton Puhač, Alena Dubroŭskaja, Ivan Dziarnovič, Alaksandr Zacharčyk, Jury Jurčuk, Tacciana Makiejeva, Rusłan Zholič, Dzmitry Siŭko, Alaksandr Ciupa, Ivan Mikša, Alaksandr Syryca and stop criminal prosecution against them;
- take measures aimed at decriminalizing defamation offenses and repealing articles of the Criminal Code that provide for liability for insulting the State, state symbols and officials, namely, Articles 188, 189, 361, 367, 368, 369, 369-1, 370, and 391 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, and to terminate all previously initiated under these articles criminal cases;
- immediately release all political prisoners and stop political repression.
Human Rights Center Viasna;
Legal initiative;
Belarusian Helsinki Committee;
Lawtrend;
Belarusian Association of Journalists;
Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House;
PEN Belarus.