On September 25, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Advisor on Legal Affairs, Leanid Marozau, met in Vilnius with representatives of Belarusian human rights organizations.
The meeting focused on the situation of political prisoners and ongoing repression, documenting crimes, international accountability mechanisms, transnational repression, and the regime’s abuse of Interpol mechanisms, as well as legal challenges faced by Belarusians in exile.
They also discussed how to make more effective use of the data and expertise collected by human rights defenders in international advocacy and cooperation with governments, international organizations, and institutions that can take concrete action.
“Virtually all of our international legal work is based on the vast body of information and evidence that Belarusian human rights defenders have been collecting for years. Our shared task is to ensure that these materials serve as a basis for concrete action: protecting people and holding those responsible to account”, Leanid Marozau noted.
This joint work has already produced practical results. The Concept for Accountability for Repression in Belarus was developed with the involvement of human rights defenders. Another area of work is countering the use of Interpol mechanisms by the Lukashenka regime to persecute Belarusians in exile. The report “Wanted by Dictator: Red Notice State” addresses this issue.
Following the meeting, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Office invited the human rights organizations to join forces to prepare a new study, “Belarus: ‘Welcome Home’”, documenting cases of detention and persecution of Belarusians after returning to Belarus from abroad.
Leanid Marozau: “It is important to us that European authorities make such decisions based on up-to-date and documented data. Behind a formal decision to return a person to Belarus lies a real risk of detention and criminal prosecution. That is why we want to bring these cases together in a single study and make this information available to those making decisions that affect the lives of Belarusians in exile”.
