Five defendants in the civil self-defense units of Belarus case are political prisoners
Statement by the human rights community of Belarus
June 7, 2023
We, representatives of the human rights community in Belarus, note that the authorities are abusing the possibilities of the criminal law and applying excessively harsh penalties to protesters, including long-term imprisonment for acts that did not entail serious consequences. In particular, the qualification of the actions as terrorism does not correspond to how international standards interpret this term.
In international law, ‘terrorism’ typically denotes acts of violence against civilians for political or ideological purposes.
In the Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism (resolution 49/60), the General Assembly stated that terrorism is “acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes.”
According to Security Council resolution 1566 (2004) 2004, criminal acts that under no circumstances are justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other similar nature, have three distinctive features:
- are committed, including against civilians, with the
intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages; - are committed with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act,
- constitute offences within the scope of and as defined in the international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism.
Criminal acts that lack these characteristics are not terrorist in nature and must be qualified as crimes against public administration (threat of violence against officials) or crimes against property (for example, deliberate destruction or damage to property of others) and punished correspondingly to the gravity and public danger of the offense.
We are aware of the criminal convictions of the following persons:
1. Ms. Natallia Matsveyeva was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony and fined 12,800 Belarusian rubles (approx. $5,100). She was convicted under the following Articles of the Criminal Code:
- part 2 of Artice 290-4 (“participation in terrorist organization activity”),
- part 1 of Article 13 and part 2 of Article 289 (“preparation for a terrorist act”), and
- part 2 of Article 295-3 (“illegal actions in relation to objects which action is based on the use of combustible substances”).
The accusations stemmed from preparations to commit arson on logging vehicles, instigated by Belarusian special services
2. Mr. Vadzim Hulevich was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony and fined 19,200 Belarusian rubles (approx. $7,600). He was convicted under the following Articles of the Criminal Code:
- part 2 of Article 290-4 (“participation in terrorist organization activity”),
- part 2 of Article 289 (“act of terrorism”), part 1 of Article 290-2 (“promoting terrorist activities”),
- part 1 of Article 13 and Article 290-3 (“preparation for training or other preparation for participation in terrorist activity”),
- and part 4 of Article 295 (“unlawful acts against firearms, ammunition and explosives”).
The accusations stemmed from preparations to damage a military facility of the Russian Federation, instigated by Belarusian special services.
3. Mr. Kiryl Ashurak was sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony and fined 12,800 Belarusian rubles (approx. $5,100). He was convicted under part 2 of Article 290-4 (“participation in terrorist organization activity”) and part 6 of Article 16 and part 2 of Article 289 (“facilitating an act of terrorism”) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. The accusations stemmed from preparations to damage a military facility of the Russian Federation, instigated by Belarusian special services.
4. Mr. Aliaksei Hlotau was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony and fined 22,400 Belarusian rubles (approx. $8,900). He was convicted under the following Articles of the Criminal Code:
- part 2 of Article 290-4 (“participation in terrorist organization activity”),
- part 2 of Article 289 (“act of terrorism”),
- part 1 of Article 13 and Article 359 (“preparation for participation in the act of terrorism against a state or public figure”), and
- part 1 of Article 14 and part 2 of Article 295, part 4 of Article 295 (“unlawful acts against firearms, ammunition and explosives”).
The accusations stemmed from preparations to damage a military facility of the Russian Federation, instigated by Belarusian special services.
5. Mr. Dzmitryi Sasnouski was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony and fined 22,400 Belarusian rubles (approx. $8,900). He was convicted under the following Articles of the Criminal Code:
- part 1 of Article 361-1 (“creation of an extremist formation, or participation in it”),
- part 2 of Article 290-4 (“participation in terrorist organization activity”),
- part 1 of Article 359 (“an act of terrorism against a state or public figure” [requalified during the trial from ‘preparation’]),
- part 6 of Article 16, part 1 of Article 13 and part 2 of Article 295, part 1 of Article 14 and part 4 of Article 295 (“unlawful acts against firearms, ammunition and explosives”),
- part 3 of Article 361 (“calls for sanctions”), and
- part 1 of Article 130 (“incitement to hatred”).
The accusations stemmed in preparation for an attack on a state television propagandist instigated by Belarusian special services.
Court proceedings were held with gross violations of the principles of fair trial and the procedural rights of the defendants: the court failed to ensure impartiality and independence; the court ignored the defendants’ allegations of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; the court was unable to secure the adversarial proceedings and impartial assessment of the evidence.
This resulted in unlawfully over-serious charges and excessive punishments to all mentioned individuals.
In evaluating all of these criminal prosecution cases, we see a political motive in the prosecution of the defendants. We believe that the court decisions were made in violation of the fundamental principles of fair justice.
We emphasize once again that the nature of the acts of the accused in these cases was the result of numerous and widespread human rights violations by the authorities, the lack of freedom of expression, and caused by the lack of investigation of crimes against peaceful protesters and other victims of cruel treatment and torture, disappointment with the authorities’ reluctance to use the force of law to protect citizens’ violated rights in the absence of conditions for a democratic and constitutional change of government in fair elections.
We once again remind that the consideration of politically motivated criminal cases in closed or effectively closed court sessions, in the absence of the public, observers, and independent press, in an environment of intolerance towards the activities of human rights organizations, defenders, and independent journalists, grossly violates the procedural rights of the accused and critically undermines the assessment of the authenticity, sufficiency, and admissibility of any evidence of the accusation.
According to the Guidelines on the Definition of Political Prisoners, a person deprived of liberty is to be regarded as a political prisoner if, along with the political motivation of their case, at least one of the following criteria is observed:
- a) the detention has been imposed in violation of the right to a fair trial, other rights and freedoms guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms;
- d) the person has been detained in a discriminatory manner as compared to other persons.
We, the representatives of the Belarusian human rights community, recognize Ms. Natallia Matsveyeva, Mr. Vadzim Hulevich, Mr. Kiryl Ashurak, Mr. Aliaksei Hlotau, and Mr. Dzmitryi Sasnouski as political prisoners. We demand that the Belarusian authorities:
- Review the sentences passed against the mentioned political prisoners while exercising the right to a fair trial and eliminating the factors that affected the qualification of actions, the type and amount of punishment.
- Release the mentioned political prisoners by taking other measures to ensure their appearance in court.
- Immediately release all political prisoners, review politically motivated sentences, and end political repression against citizens.
Human Rights Center Viasna
Legal Initiative
PEN Belarus
Human Constanta
Belarusian Association of Journalists
Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House
Lawtrend
Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
