Journalist Aliaksandr Mantsevich is a political prisoner

Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community

On March 15, 2023, the house of journalist Aliaksandr Mantsevich in Viliejka was searched, after which he was detained and taken to Maladziečna pre-trial detention center.

On March 27, it became known that Mr. Mantsevich was transferred to Žodzina pre-trial detention center. Later, the Investigative Committee reported that Mr. Mantsevich was charged with discrediting the Republic of Belarus under Article 369-1 of the Criminal Code.

According to the materials of the criminal case, Mr. Mantsevich, being the editorial director of the newspaper, together with other persons from January 1, 2020, to March 15, 2023, was disseminating deliberately false information through a printed edition and the newspaper's Internet resources, which discredited Belarus and its government.

“The articles contained inaccurate information aimed at causing significant damage to national and public interests, undermining the authority of the country and its governing bodies, damaging national interests, destabilizing the situation among citizens of Belarus, and forming false ideas about non-compliance with civil rights and freedoms in the country.”

Mr. Aliaksandr Mantsevich is the editor-in-chief of Rehijanaĺnaja hazieta, the leading independent media outlet in Maladziečna and the region. He won numerous journalistic contests and was awarded prizes for high standards of work. In the summer of 2021, the law-enforcing bodies already searched the editorial office and the editor-in-chief's house.

We, the undersigned organizations, consider all these actions in relation to Mr. Aliaksandr Mantsevich as a continuation of the targeted policy of the authorities to limit the dissemination of uncensored information in the country and a continuation of the attack on freedom of speech. After the 2020 presidential election, dozens of NGO and media websites have been blocked in Belarus, several printed media has been closed, and journalists and employees of the Belarusian media sector have been imprisoned.

Given the circumstances, we believe that the criminal prosecution of Mr. Aliaksandr Mantsevich is politically motivated and aimed at stopping or changing the nature of his legitimate public activities in the sphere of non-violent exercise of freedom of expression and dissemination of information.

Based on this and guided by para. 2.1 and 3.1 of the Guidelines on the Definition of Political Prisoners adopted at III Belarusian Human Rights Forum, we, Belarusian human rights defenders, recognize Mr. Aliaksandr Mantsevich as a political prisoner and call on the Belarusian authorities to:

• immediately release Mr. Aliaksandr Mantsevich and drop criminal charges against him;
• refrain from using criminal prosecution as an instrument of pressure on freedom of expression, or other rights and freedoms;
• immediately release all political prisoners, as well as other individuals detained in connection with their exercise of freedom of peaceful assembly in the post-election period and stop political repression in the country.

Belarusian Association of Journalists

Human Rights Center Viasna

Lawtrend

PEN Belarus

Belarusian Helsinki Committee