{"id":8394,"date":"2021-08-23T15:56:56","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T15:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=8394"},"modified":"2021-08-24T07:48:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T07:48:10","slug":"zayava-pravaabaronchyh-arganizaczyj-belarusi-ab-pryznanni-dzevyaczi-palitvyaznyau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2021\/08\/23\/zayava-pravaabaronchyh-arganizaczyj-belarusi-ab-pryznanni-dzevyaczi-palitvyaznyau.html","title":{"rendered":"HRDs call to release 9 persons convicted of defamation offenses"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to the new cases of conviction and imprisonment of individuals under a number of defamatory articles of the Criminal Code, as well as on charges of insulting the state symbols, we, representatives of the Belarusian human rights community, once again reaffirming our repeated calls to decriminalize defamation and refrain from imprisoning individuals for insulting officials, the state, state bodies and symbols (joint statement of December 22, 2020<\/a>), we note the following.<\/p>\n

We have received information about the following persons imprisoned for insulting the president, government officials (police officers), judges and state symbols, as well as the use of other permissible forms of expression:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Natallia Turava<\/strong> \u2013 sentenced on August 18, 2021 to one year and one month of imprisonment in a penal colony by the Lieninski District Court of Brest under Part 1 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code for insulting the president and Part 1 of Art. 377 of the Criminal Code for damaging a protocol;<\/p>\n

Yury Serabro<\/strong> \u2013 sentenced on August 13, 2021 to one year and six months of imprisonment in a penal colony by the Kastry\u010dnicki District Court of Viciebsk under Part 1 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code for insulting the president;<\/p>\n

Aliaksandr Ihnatovich<\/strong> \u2013 sentenced on August 10, 2021 to two years and six months of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary (\u201ckhimiya\u201d) by the Lieninski District Court of Mahilio\u016d under Art. 369 of the Criminal Code for insulting a police officer in online comments;<\/p>\n

Yury Vinichuk<\/strong> \u2013 sentenced on June 9, 2021 to one and a half years of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary (\u201ckhimiya\u201d) by the Brest District Court under Art. 368 of the Criminal Code for insulting the president; sent to serve the sentence;<\/p>\n

Aliaksandr Yunitski<\/strong> \u2013 sentenced on June 11, 2021 to two years of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary (\u201ckhimiya\u201d) by the Svietlahorsk District Court under Art. 369 of the Criminal Code for insulting a police officer in online comments; sent to serve the sentence;<\/p>\n

Siarhei Burak<\/strong> \u2013 sentenced on June 7, 2021 to two years of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary (\u201ckhimiya\u201d) by the Masty District Court under Art. 368 of the Criminal Code for insulting the president and under Art. 370 of the Criminal Code for insulting state symbols; sent to serve the sentence;<\/p>\n

Uladzimir Shurubeika<\/strong> \u2013 sentenced on May 20, 2021 to two years of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary (\u201ckhimiya\u201d) by the Masko\u016dski District Court of Brest under Art. 369 of the Criminal Code for insulting a KGB officer; sent to serve the sentence;<\/p>\n

Siarhei Balakhonau<\/strong> \u2013 sentenced on August 23, 2021 to one year of imprisonment in a penal colony by the Kastry\u010dnicki District Court of Viciebsk under Part 1 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code for insulting the president;<\/p>\n

Anatol Sivets<\/strong> \u2013 sentenced on June 5, 2021 to two years and six months of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary (\u201ckhimiya\u201d) by the Masko\u016dski District Court of Minsk under Art. 339 of the Criminal Code for painting protest slogans; sent to serve the sentence.<\/p>\n

In this regard, we consider their persecution and imprisonment to be\u00a0politically motivated<\/strong>, as they are related to the peaceful exercise of expression. The convicts are therefore\u00a0political prisoners<\/strong>\u00a0in accordance with paragraph 3.1 (a) of the\u00a0Guidelines on the Definition of Political Prisoners<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We call on the Belarusian authorities to:<\/strong><\/p>\n