“Dear Ambassadors, dear friends,
I am happy to be among those who share my values and who fight to uphold human rights. We are united by our common belief in humanity, dignity, and accountability.
I wish I could tell you that the situation has improved, that repressions have stopped, that the people have been released, and we have made a step forward to restoring justice.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. We recently marked a very sorrowful number – 1000 officially recognized political prisoners in Belarus. A year ago, it was 220. Today it’s 1020, 5 times more. Among them are 11 minors, more than 125 women, at least 25 of them suffer from cancer, heart disease, or other critical health problems.
The actual number of political prisoners is actually bigger. The process of recognition takes time and needs information, and it becomes harder and harder to obtain. Because the security forces intimidate the families of unlawfully arrested into believing that being recognized as political prisoners will harm their loved ones. Thus, there might be hundreds, if not thousands, such “political hostages”. Overall, according to the “Viasna” Human Rights Center, more than 5,500 criminal cases have been opened since 2020.
In September 2021, human rights defenders reported 40,000 had been detained since the summer of 2020. Now, they stopped counting the overall number of detentions: it became impossible. Detentions have become arbitrary and happen almost every day now. KGB and riot police regularly raid apartments for a national flag in a window or online comments. For example, 210 people were detained for criticizing the police after the incident when a Belarusian IT specialist Andrei Zeltser and a KGB employee were shot in a fire-fight during the raid on his apartment. More recently, according to different sources, 20 to 100 people got detained for criticizing the decision to send Belarusian troops to Kazakhstan.
The detentions are often accompanied by the use of excessive and disproportionate force. These repressions are state-backed and have systematic character. They have signs of crimes against humanity.
Political prisoners are sentenced to cruel prison terms. My husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, was sentenced in December to 18 years of prison. Journalists, activists, bloggers receive 8, 12, 14, 16 years of jail. Many of those who had to flee knew post factum that a criminal case was instigated against them. We also know multiple facts of persecution of family members. For example, a few days ago, a cousin of Pavel Latushka, our coalition partner, was detained, and his daughter is a suspect in a criminal case.
Conditions in detention centers and prisons are very harsh. No family members, no independent monitors, human rights defenders, diplomats, or representatives of international organizations are allowed to inspect. There was a case when police officers painted swastikas on the detainees, some of whom were beaten and kept without clothes for more than a week.
Two days ago, Swiss-Belarusian Natallia Hersche, who had already spent 500 days in prison, announced a hunger strike because of ill-treatment and torture. Her cell is blasted by a Radio playing at full volume all day long. This can be treated as torture as well.
Stsiapan Latypau was pressured to plead guilty and tried to commit suicide by stabbing himself with a pen in court. Luckily, he survived in contrast to Vitold Ashurak, who mysteriously died in a cell.
A mother of five, Volha Zalatar, was beaten by the police after detention and later sentenced to four years in prison. Conditions for women are particularly bad. They are often deprived even of pads. They sit in overcrowded cells, feeling the blood running on their legs.
Also, last year, the authorities did not conduct any investigation into the deaths of peaceful protesters Aliaksandr Taraikouski, Henadz Shutau, Raman Bandarenka, Aliaksandr Vikhor, and Vitold Ashurak. The authorities did not properly investigate about 5,000 complaints about torture and other ill-treatment of peaceful protesters. 100 complaints were from minors.
To date, more than 1,000 testimonies of torture victims have been documented by the Human Rights Center “Viasna”. Their analysis suggests that the acts of torture were widespread and systemic and were organized as a politically motivated punitive action by the authorities to intimidate Belarusian society.
One group that is especially targeted by the regime is free media, bloggers, journalists, and all those who dare to tell the truth about the situation in Belarus. We have chosen to dedicate the Day of Solidarity with Belarus on February 9 to free media. This day marks a year and a half of peaceful protests against violence, lawnessness and state terror in Belarus.
At the moment, more than 40 media representatives are imprisoned in Belarus, 300 media professionals fled the country. Last month, journalist Aliaksandr Ivulin was sentenced to 2 years in prison. The team of TUT.by continue to stay behind bars. Journalist Kseniya Lutskina suffers a brain tumor in prison. In May 2021, the regime even hijacked a Ryanair aircraft to arrest blogger Raman Pratasevich.
According to the Reporters Without Borders annual report, Belarus is now the world’s third-largest jailer of journalists, and more than a quarter of all female journalists imprisoned in the entire world are currently in Belarusian prisons.
The international community should be vocal about the violence and repressions against media workers, censorship, and the lack of access to the internet and free information.
We need to keep Belarus on the agenda and shed light on the regime’s actions. The dictator has done everything to shut the mouth of independent journalists and prevent the world from seeing what has been happening in our country. This cannot be allowed to happen.
In the last year, we have seen an unprecedented attack on civil society in Belarus. Apart from independent journalists, the government has targeted civil organizations and human rights defenders – the very people who are championing the human rights that are now trampled in Belarus. The regime is trying to silence all critical voices.
To quote Human Rights Watch, Belarusian authorities carried out a merciless civil society purge. Despite the shocking crackdown, rights defenders and journalists courageously continue their work, both on the ground and from exile. They are our heroes.
Between July and mid-November, the authorities initiated liquidation proceedings against more than 330 groups and organizations. Seven Viasna activists were jailed on phony charges. But it wasn’t only a human rights organization. The state is so afraid of civil society that it has also liquidated social, ecological, cultural, youth, and other organizations. Even two children's hospices in Hrodna and Vitebsk.
In November, a court in Homшel sentenced the head of Viasna’s local office, Leanid Sudalenka, and a volunteer, Tatsiana Lasitsa, to three and two and a half years in prison respectively, for “organizing and financing” activities “grossly violating public order”.
People were put behind bars just for wearing the wrong colors. Lawyers who defend political prisoners and try to uphold the law were punished by having their licenses revoked. Many faced politically motivated charges.
We have also seen how the regime is looking for enemies and interfering in the conflicts of other countries, as well as using migrants to blackmail Europe. This is a telling example of how human rights are abused in the country, not just of our own citizens. And it also evolves into a threat to international peace and security.
The violations of human rights in Belarus have now reached the level of crimes against humanity due to their severity and systematic nature, to quote a report from the German Marshall Fund for the United States. As international crimes and serious human rights violations, especially massive torture, they represent violations of international law that create obligations for other states to take measures to stop them and to hold their perpetrators accountable. Those responsible must be brought to justice.
Lawyer Maksim Znak has called the situation in our country a “legal default” – meaning that the law has stopped working and only serves the regime and repressions.
The international community has already reacted by invoking a number of measures for accountability, including the OSCE Moscow and Vienna mechanisms and the International Accountability Platform for Belarus.
The Vienna mechanism was invoked by 35 OSCE member states in November of 2021 in relation to serious human rights violations. The OSCE members points to more than 1,500 cases of torture and other cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment. The evidence gathered is sufficient to bring cases before international courts as well as within universal jurisdiction.
We need to see all possible mechanisms activated to bring justice. Impunity will only bring about worse crimes.
The Human Rights Council has condemned the ongoing grave violations of human rights in Belarus and requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to monitor and report on the situation of human rights as well as to engage with all stakeholders.
It should collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze information and evidence with a view to contributing to accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims and, where possible, to identify those responsible.
The Office of the High Commissioner is to present a comprehensive written report in March of this year. We look forward to the outcome of the work of the Office. We ask you to do everything so that the report is adopted and the mandate was extended.
We also see cases initiated under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which has previously been used successfully to prosecute crimes against humanity.
I would like to quote the President of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court, Dainius Žalimas:
“Universal jurisdiction is based on mandatory international legal norms defining international crimes as crimes against the entire international community and, thus, against the whole of humanity. Liability for them arises irrespective of whether the law of the state in which the crimes are committed provides for relevant criminal liability. The international community has assumed the obligation to persecute the persons who commit these crimes”.
Therefore, we call on the international community to initiate cases under universal jurisdiction.
I would like to end by saying that we are deeply thankful for the support that we have received from the international community. The Belarusian people actively refuse to accept the results of the rigged election in 2020, and the solidarity with their struggle for democratic and human rights should continue. Your support is absolutely crucial for us.
Thank you!”
