On required actions of the international community in connection with the case of prisoner of conscience Ales Bialiatski

Statement by the International Observation Mission of the Committee on International Control over the Human Rights Situation in Belarus

Acting on behalf of the Committee on International Control over the Human Rights Situation in Belarus (CIC), which brings together representatives of national and international non-governmental organizations from the OSCE countries,

monitoring the overall situation with the observance of fundamental human rights in Belarus,

stressing that human rights are a matter of direct and legitimate concern of the international civil society, as well as the OSCE participating countries, which have committed themselves to exercise joint control over the observance of human rights standards and the rule of law,

given the special international legal status of human rights defenders,

considering as unacceptable the use of the judiciary and the penal system as politically motivated repression mechanisms,

The International Observation Mission and its representative on human rights defenders

- considers as unacceptable the fact that the well-known Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, recognized as a prisoner of conscience, has been imprisoned for more than two years, and reports continue to be received that the internal prison regulations have been used as an instrument of pressure, which leads to the violation of the rights of both Bialiatski himself and his relatives;

- stress that both the authorities of the Republic of Belarus, who systematically violate their international commitments to create an enabling environment for human rights activities and all the OSCE participating countries and the states which supported the creation of the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Republic of Belarush, shall be responsible for his imprisonment;

- considering this, join the calls of the international community and the Belarusian civil society for the immediate and unconditional release of Ales Bialiatski (voiced, inter alia, on his birthday, September 25, 2013);

- support his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, as well as the joint nomination of political prisoners in Belarus for the Sakharov Prize;

- consider find it necessary to seriously revise of the mechanisms of interstate cooperation of law enforcement agencies in their interrelation with the states, where judicial systems are dependent on the executive power and do not meet the standards of impartiality and commitment to the rule of law;

- suggest making additional efforts for the development of independent public monitoring of places of detention, primarily in the OSCE participating states, which hold prisoners of conscience and political prisoners.

September 25, 2013

Andrey Yurov,

Head of the Mission

Dmitry Makarov,

Representative of the Mission on the situation of human rights defenders

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The Committee on International Control over the Human Rights Situation in Belarus was established by a coalition of non-governmental organizations from the OSCE region on December 27th, 2010.

The Committee engages in monitoring and control over the observation of fundamental human rights, conditions of human rights defenders and human rights organizations in the country. The Committee also makes recommendations for the national authorities and supranational authorities on normalization of the situation in the country and bringing it to conformity with the national legislation and international obligations undertaken by the Belarusian government.

For the work on the territory of the Republic of Belarus the Committee formed the long-term International Observation Mission, composed of representatives of the human rights organizations from the OSCE area, members of international organizations and independent experts. The Mission doesn’t provide evaluation of the results of the presidential elections and electoral process.