{"id":16798,"date":"2024-09-17T09:44:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T09:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=16798"},"modified":"2024-09-17T09:51:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T09:51:32","slug":"zayava-pravaabaronczau-ab-pryznanni-22-chalavek-palitychnymi-znyavolenymi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2024\/09\/17\/zayava-pravaabaronczau-ab-pryznanni-22-chalavek-palitychnymi-znyavolenymi.html","title":{"rendered":"The statement on the recognition of 22 people as political prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

September 16, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n

In connection with information about the charges, detention, and sentencing related to imprisonment under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code (“organization and preparation of actions grossly violating public order, or active participation in them”) in relation to Aleh Ha\u0142ubo\u016dski, Siarhiej Ho\u016d\u0161a, Ihar \u0160yman\u010dyk, Alaksandr Malko\u016d, Siarhiej Skrobat, Via\u010das\u0142a\u016d Bierazaviec, Ta\u0107ciana Daniluk, Mika\u0142aj Ku\u0142ak, Ihar Ja\u016dmiena\u016d-Kula, Andrej Rybako\u016d, Viktar Daniluk, Mika\u0142aj Misiuk, Illa Sabko, Alaksandr Zajca\u016d, Mika\u0142aj Kapluk, Dzianis Jakavienka, Kiry\u0142 Ja\u016dtu\u0161yk, Artur Zaremba, Aleh Bandaruk, Ivan Ko\u015bcika\u016d, Anton Charevi\u010d, D\u017amitry Bian\u010duk,\u00a0<\/strong>once again confirming the position, as set out in\u00a0the joint statement<\/a>\u00a0of the human rights community of August 10, 2020,\u00a0we note the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freedom of peaceful assembly is guaranteed by Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This freedom is not subject to any restrictions other than those established by law and necessary in democratic countries for the purposes of national and public security, public order, public health, and morals, or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.<\/p>\n

Protests by citizens were spontaneous, self-organized and were caused by distrust of the\u00a0results<\/a>\u00a0of the August 9, 2020, presidential election, which was held with numerous violations and falsifications and was not recognized by the international community as democratic, fair, and free.<\/p>\n

Citizens assembled peacefully and posed no threat to national or public security. However, the demonstrators were attacked by special units of the Interior Ministry with disproportionate use of physical force, special equipment, and weapons.<\/p>\n

For the first time in the history of Belarus, rubber bullets and water cannons were used against peaceful demonstrators. A considerable amount of damage was inflicted by the use of stun grenades.<\/p>\n

In our statement of August 10, 2020, the Belarusian human rights community\u00a0condemned<\/a>\u00a0the actions of law enforcement agencies and placed all responsibility for what happened on August 9 and 10 on the authorities of Belarus.<\/p>\n

We assess the\u00a0persecution\u00a0of the above-mentioned individuals who were imprisoned and accused of group actions, grossly violating public order, and riots as\u00a0politically motivated, as it is related solely to their exercise of freedom of peaceful assembly and expression in the post-election period and\u00a0recognize them as\u00a0political prisoners<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In this regard, we demand that the Belarusian authorities:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Immediately release Aleh Ha\u0142ubo\u016dski, Siarhiej Ho\u016d\u0161a, Ihar \u0160yman\u010dyk, Alaksandr Malko\u016d, Siarhiej Skrobat, Via\u010das\u0142a\u016d Bierazaviec, Ta\u0107ciana Daniluk, Mika\u0142aj Ku\u0142ak, Ihar Ja\u016dmiena\u016d-Kula, Andrej Rybako\u016d, Viktar Daniluk, Mika\u0142aj Misiuk, Illa Sabko, Alaksandr Zajca\u016d, Mika\u0142aj Kapluk, Dzianis Jakavienka, Kiry\u0142 Ja\u016dtu\u0161yk, Artur Zaremba, Aleh Bandaruk, Ivan Ko\u015bcika\u016d, Anton Charevi\u010d, D\u017amitry Bian\u010duk <\/strong>and stop their criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n

Immediately release all political prisoners, as well as other individuals detained in connection with their exercise of freedom of peaceful assembly in the post-election period, review politically motivated cases, and stop political repression in the country.<\/p>\n

Human Rights Center Viasna<\/em><\/p>\n

Legal initiative;
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

PEN Belarus;<\/em><\/p>\n

Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;<\/em><\/p>\n

Lawtrend.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community September 16, 2024 In connection with information about the charges, detention, and sentencing related to imprisonment under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code (“organization and preparation of actions grossly violating public order, or active participation in them”) in relation to Aleh Ha\u0142ubo\u016dski, Siarhiej Ho\u016d\u0161a,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":16799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4201],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solidarity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16798"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16802,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16798\/revisions\/16802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}