Ten more people recognized as political prisoners

Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community

March 22, 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, and other actions aimed at the lawful exercising of freedom of expression 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. Valeryi Larchyk, sentenced to 2 years and 6 months of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary under Article 368 of the Criminal Code for insulting A. Lukashenka; sent to serve his sentence;
2. Raman Skapcou, sentenced to 2 years and 6 months of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary under Article 368 of the Criminal Code for insulting A. Lukashenka; sent to serve his sentence;
3. Mikalai Sasnouski, sentenced to 18 months of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary under Article 369 of the Criminal Code for insulting a police officer; sent to serve his sentence;
4. Aliaksandr Safonau, sentenced to 2 years and 6 months of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary under Article 369 of the Criminal Code for insulting a police officer; sent to serve his sentence;
5. Vital Maskaliou sentenced to three years of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary under Article 369 of the Criminal Code for insulting a government official and under Article 364 of the Criminal Code for threatening the government official with violence with his comment on the social network that did not contain direct threats.
6. Natallia Sciepancova, sentenced to 2 years of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary under Article 369 of the Criminal Code for insulting a government official; sent to serve her sentence;
7. Aliaksandr Loban, taken into custody on charges under Article 130 of the Criminal Code for inciting hatred with his comment on the social network regarding the “Zeltser case”.
8. Vital Marukhlenka, taken into custody on charges under Article 130 of the Criminal Code for inciting hatred with his comment on the social network regarding the “Zeltser case”.
9. Andrei Akushka, taken into custody on charges under Articles 368 and 369 of the Criminal Code for insulting A. Lukashenka and a government official;
10. Dmitry Kachanovski, sentenced to 3 years of restricted freedom in an open penitentiary under Article 370 of the Criminal Code for Desecrating the state symbols and under Article 369 for insulting a government official; sent to serve his sentence;

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 recognize 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 Valeryi Larchyk, Raman Skapcou, Mikalai Sasnouski, Aliaksandr Safonau, Vital Maskaliou, Natallia Sciepancova, Aliaksandr Loban, Vital Marukhlenka, Andrei Akushka, Dmitry Kachanovski 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

PEN Belarus

Legal initiative

Belarusian Helsinki Committee