Belarus, Ales Bialiatski, Nobel Peace Prize 2022, on trial, together with four activists of the NGO Viasna

ROME – The trial against Ales Bialiatski, Nobel Peace Prize 2022 and founder of the NGO, began on 5 January in Minsk Viasna, his deputy Valiantsin Stefanovich and Uladzimir Labkovich, member of the same organization and campaign coordinator for free elections in Belarus. A fourth person, Zmitser Salauyou, is being tried in absentia because she had to leave the country. The human rights defenders, who were given only one month to consult the files with the charges – 283 volumes of 300 pages each – have been detained since 14 July 2021, a day remembered by Viasna such as “Black Wednesday”. The four men are accused of receiving foreign funds through Lithuania and using the money to foment the demonstrations and public disorder that occurred in the country during the 2020 elections. To be exact, we are talking about 210,000 euros and 54,000 dollars that the accused – according to the indictment – would have received between 2016 and 2020.

process irregularities. From Viasna they report that most of the safeguards in this process have been ignored. What were supposed to be open hearings are in reality public only for the regime media and relatives of the defendants. All the defense requests were rejected: Bialiatski and his colleagues had asked to attend the trial without handcuffs, considered degrading to one’s dignity, but the proposal was ignored. The defendants’ lawyers themselves are at risk: Bialiatski’s old consultant was arrested during the preliminary investigations.

Political repression. According to data released by Viasna there are currently 1446 political prisoners in prisons in the country, the only one in Europe where the death penalty is practiced. And the number continues to grow. The NGO has documented 2627 politically motivated trials since 2020. The practice of “trials in absentia” has become increasingly widespread in the country, as in the case of Zmitser Salauyou, who was absent from the first two hearings because he was forced to leave the country. Salauyou, who is being defended by a public defender, said he doesn’t even know if he is a man or a woman because he has never had the opportunity to hear from him. In recent times – they explain from Viasna – there have also been thousands of job dismissals against people who have asked for an alternative candidate in the 2020 elections.

The arrest of Yekaterina Yanshina. On January 5, around 5 pm, after following the first hearing of the trial against members of the organization ViasnaYekaterina Yanshina, a Russian activist, was detained by Minsk law enforcement agencies. Her case immediately rose to international prominence thanks to the public denunciation made by a dozen organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH). Yanshina collaborates with the important Russian organization Memorial, also Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2022. The agents arrested her on charges of having taken provocative attitudes towards the police and having disturbed the process by taking photos and submitting online hearing reports.

The repression of activists. The criminal case – according to the analyzes of Viasna – remains the most common form of repression in the country. But since 2020, administrative detention is also spreading. Administrative detention on the basis of specious accusations, such as those made against Yekaterina Yanshina, fines, sanctions: these are the forms of oppression that the Belarusian government has imposed mainly on human rights activists and defenders since 2020. The Viasna dossier speaks of 290 documented administrative stops in December 2022 alone.

The effects of the war in Ukraine. The war in Kiev increased repression in Belarus as well. The authorities are harassing those who comment on the news online or show support for Ukraine. Viasna reports arrests among those who have added yellow and blue to their profile photos on social media. At least two thousand people have been arrested over protests against Russian aggression. In November, a woman was fined in the city of Lida for burning yellow and blue fireworks on Ukraine’s Independence Day. In August, a street singer was arrested in Minsk for performing a song by Ukrainian group Okean Elzy.