Five more people recognized as political prisoners, HRD's call to decriminalize defamation

Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community

February 8, 2022

In response to an increase in the number of cases of conviction and imprisonment of individuals under a number of defamatory articles of the Criminal Code, as well as for insulting state symbols of the Republic of Belarus, we, representatives of the Belarusian human rights community demand to put the end to the persecution for legitimate expression of views and, reaffirming our repeated calls to decriminalize defamation and to refrain from imposing terms of imprisonment 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 insulting the president, police officers, judges, as well as insulting state symbols:

1. Liliya Ananian, taken into custody on charges under Art. 339 of the Criminal Code for drawing the Pahonia coat-of-arms in public places;
2. Tatsiana Birulia, taken into custody on charges under Art. 367 of the Criminal Code for defamation of A. Lukashenka;
3. Aliaksandr Birulia, taken into custody on charges under Art. 367 of the Criminal Code for defamation of A. Lukashenka;
4. Aliaksandr Mikhailau, sentenced to two years of restricted freedom in a penal colony under Art. 366, 368, 369 of the Criminal Code for threatening an official performing official duties and insulting A. Lukashenka in his comments to publications in a Telegram channel.
5. Halina Mikhalchuk, sentenced to 2 years and 6 months of restricted freedom in a penal colony under Art. 367, 368, and 369 of the Criminal Code for insulting a government official, insulting and slandering A. Lukashenka in social media comments.

In this regard, we consider the persecution and imprisonment of the persons listed above as politically motivated in connection with the peaceful exercise of their views, and the convicts as political prisoners in accordance with paragraph 3.1 (a) of the Guidelines on the Definition of Political Prisoners. We, therefore, call on the Belarusian authorities to:

1. immediately release political prisoners Liliya Ananian, Tatsiana Birulia, Aliaksandr Birulia, Aliaksandr Mikhailau, Halina Mikhalchuk and stop the criminal prosecution against them;
2. decriminalize defamation offenses and abolish articles of the Criminal Code that provide for liability for insulting the state and state symbols, namely Articles 188, 189, 367, 368, 369, 369-1, 370, and 391 of the Criminal Code, and stop all ongoing criminal cases under these articles;
3. immediately release all political prisoners and stop political repression.

Human Rights Center Viasna

Legal initiative

Lawtrend

PEN Belarus

Belarusian Helsinki Committee

Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House

Belarusian Association of Journalists