Belarus Review by iSANS — April 15, 2024 

The Investigative Committee completed the investigation of the case against human rights defender Leanid Sudalenka and referred it to the prosecutor’s office for referral to court. Sudalenka was accused of facilitating extremist activities. The case was investigated within the framework of the special procedure, i.e. in absentia. Leanid Sudalenka headed the Homel branch of “Viasna” Human Rights Center. In November 2021, he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. On July 21, 2023, he was released from the colony after serving his entire term and left Belarus. He continues his human rights activities outside the country.

The Human Rights Center “Viasna” recorded a tendency to increase of the intensity of trials on political criminal cases in March. At least 165 persons could have been convicted in March, of which 48 were women and 117 men. Mass trials for participation in protest actions in 2020 continue: at least 85 persons were convicted last month on charges of organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or actively participating in them. “Viasna” has information on 25 sentences delivered in March. There was a surge in reports of criminal cases being initiated within the framework of the special procedure about those who have left the country. Another characteristic feature of the criminal prosecution in March was the consideration of cases under the charges of the financing of terrorist activities (Article 290-1 of the Criminal Code). At least six such cases are known. Human rights activists believe that the wording of the article is widely and arbitrarily interpreted by the authorities. “It can be concluded that the practice of using this charge represents a new round in the spiral of tightening punitive measures against citizens who transferred funds to informal associations,” “Viasna” comments. March was also marked by repeated trials against already sentenced persons. “This indicates that the authorities, in addition to isolating political prisoners, exert additional pressure on them inside the penitentiary system, which increases the sentence,” human rights activists believe.

On April 8, the Homel Regional Court sentenced Ivan Sukhamerau to ten years in a high-security colony on charges of participating in an extremist organization, donating to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and trying to join the Kalinovsky regiment. In addition to imprisonment, the court imposed a fine of four thousand Belarusian rubles (1,225 USD) on him. Sukhamerau was charged with ten articles of the Criminal Code: participation, recruitment, or preparation for an armed conflict on the territory of another state, defamation of Aliaksandr Lukashenka, financing of extremist activities, discrediting Belarus, creation or participation in an extremist formation, assistance to extremist activities, abuse of state symbols, calls for action against national security, high treason, creation of or participation in a terrorist organization.

The Operational Analytical Center under the President amended the Instruction on registration of domain names in the national domain zone. Order N 69 dated April 4, 2024, was published on the National Legal Internet Portal. Now the domains of projects recognized as extremist materials will be cancelled after their inclusion in the republican list of extremist materials. The order introduces the concept of a “special list”, which includes domains that have been canceled due to the inclusion in the list of extremist materials. The operation of domain names included in a special list is allowed only in the interests of national security. The cancellation decision will be sent to the registrar and the domain owner, as well as to the technical administrator of the national domain zone. There are other innovations in the Order as well. The Operational Analytical Center legalized the opportunity to take away the domain if the owner did not confirm his or her data personally making it impossible for critics of the regime to operate domains from abroad. The mechanism of domain inheritance in case of the death of the owner was described in more detail.

The health of Ales Bialiatski, a political prisoner, and the chair of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize-2022, deteriorated in prison. Ales Bialiatski has been imprisoned for more than 1,000 days. Despite having chronic diseases, he has been kept in solitary confinement for the last six months. His wife, Natallia Pinchuk, called on the UN to take more active steps to free Ales Bialiatski. He was detained in the summer of 2021, accused of financing protests and smuggling money. The court sentenced him to ten years of imprisonment. According to Natallia Pinchuk, the administration of the colony has tightened control over Bialiatski’s correspondence: he is allowed to send only postcards “in which it is briefly reported that he is still alive.”

On April 10, 51-year-old reserve lieutenant colonel Aliaksandr Kulinich, a defendant in the case of insulting Aliaksandr Lukashenka, died in the Brest Pre-trial Detention Center N 7. Coronary heart disease was reported as the official cause of death. Aliaksandr Kulinich’s trial was scheduled to take place on April 16. He was detained at the end of February 2024; it is not known what exactly he was charged with. Before he retired from the army, Aliaksandr Kulinich served in the 38^th Separate Guards Airborne Assault Brest Brigade of the Airborne Forces. Before his arrest, he worked as an individual entrepreneur. This is the sixth case when Belarusians detained for political reasons die in custody. From May 2022 to February 2024, five political prisoners died in Belarusian colonies: Ihar Lednik, Vitold Ashurak, Mikalai Klimovich, Ales Pushkin, and Vadzim Khrasko. “[They all] have died in Belarusian prisons for opposing the regime. For many political prisoners held incommunicado in Belarus, it is unknown whether they are dead or alive”, commented Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

The Ministry of Culture of Belarus attributed the demonstration of “non-traditional relationships” to pornography. It has amended the instructions governing the release, rental, sale, and advertising of erotic products and sexual goods. According to the document, “non-traditional relationships” include homosexuality, lesbian and bisexual relationships, polyamory, pedophilia, bestiality, necrophilia, sadism, masochism, voyeurism, exhibitionism, fetishistic transvestism, as well as transsexualism. The Ministry of Culture interprets pedophilia as sexual relations between persons, one of whom has not reached the age of 18, although the age of sexual consent in Belarus is 16 years. The decree came into force on April 12.

On April 11, the Prosecutor General’s Office sent a criminal case against Franak Vyachorka,  senior adviser to the leader of Belarusian democratic forces Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, to the court. The case has been investigated in the framework of the special procedure. He is charged with high treason; conspiracy to seize state power; public calls to seize state power and commit an act of terrorism and other actions aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus; discrediting the Republic of Belarus; creation and leadership of an extremist formation, including repeatedly; inciting other social hostility and discord; organization of mass riots; organization of group actions that grossly violate public order; and slander against Aliaksandr Lukashenka. In addition, Franak Vyachorka was sued “in the interests of the state” for compensation for property damage “caused by illegal actions” in the amount of more than 30.9 million rubles.

On April 12, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Minsk sentenced the members of the Nizkiz music band to two years and six months of “home chemistry” (restriction of freedom with referral to an open-type correctional institution) for participating in the 2020 protests in Belarus. Aliaksandr Ilyin, Siarhey Kulsha, and Dzmitry Khalyaukin were found guilty of gross violation of public order. After the verdict was announced, the musicians were released from custody. On the same day, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus added them to the list of “extremists”.

Political prisoner Katsiaryna Novikava managed to send a message outside of her prison. On a piece of toilet paper, she described her detention and further imprisonment. She wrote that she was captured in only a nightgown, in which she was in a pretrial detention center until receiving the first parcel from her family. During her apprehension, she was beaten by an officer of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption Ivan Vasilevich. Later, at the headquarters on Revolyutsionnaya Street, 3, she was beaten again “by the whole room.” They said they were beating her for her interview, for her Telegram channel, and for her public appeals. Letters rarely reach her. “I fell from the second floor of the bed, and hit my head on a wooden shelf,” Novikava wrote. – “The X-ray was taken, but I have not been informed of the result for more than a month.” Katsiaryna Novikava was detained in the early summer of 2023, and tried on seven charges, from “incitement to hostility” to “violence against a policeman.” The court sentenced her to six and a half years of imprisonment and a fine of 3,000 rubles, which she must pay as compensation to the “victims”.

The international organization Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) called on European countries to increase support for Belarusian independent media. “Belarusian journalists in exile in Europe face economic problems. This threatens the survival of their media. Fleeing from the repressions of the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka and demonstrating exemplary resilience, these reporters and their media now need broader support from their host countries,” the appeal says. It emphasizes that the “oldest dictatorship in Europe” persecutes journalists “in full force” after the events of August 2020, which led to the “historic exodus of the last dissenting voices from Belarus.” Attention is drawn to the increased repression by the Belarusian authorities against independent journalists. “Many professionals were forced into exile, with the largest wave of emigration recorded between the summer of 2020 and the summer of 2021, mainly to Poland and Lithuania. However, this does not guarantee the safety of journalists, who sometimes face pressure on their relatives to remain in the country or sanctions due to their cooperation with independent media listed by the authorities as “extremist”. At the same time, even working in exile, independent Belarusian media retain a significant audience in Belarus,” Reporters Without Borders stated.

Belarus failed to be re-elected into the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (acts as the principal policymaking body of the UN in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice), of which it has been a member since 2010. On April 9, Albania and Latvia were elected to the Commission from the Eastern European group. Valery Kavaleuski, the Representative for Foreign Affairs of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, commented that this was a victory for the democratic movement. “The regime does not prevent crime, it multiplies it and uses it. But, contrary to the obvious reality, the dictatorship tried to get into the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. We informed all members of the UN Economic and Social Council in advance about the malicious violations by the Lukashenka regime of its obligations in the field of combating crime and called for categorically rejecting its candidacy in these elections,” he said. iSANS participated in the drafting of expert materials sent to the delegations of the Economic and Social Council member states calling for voting against the candidacy of Belarus and containing arguments regarding the systematic violation of human rights and the principles of the rule of law by the Belarusian authorities, including crimes against humanity, abuse of international legal cooperation mechanisms, refusal to cooperate with UN human rights mechanisms, as well as complicity in the aggression against Ukraine.

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus announced a call for input for her 2024 report to the General Assembly. This thematic report will examine how the engagement of the Republic of Belarus with the United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms, bodies, and mandates, including the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, has evolved over the years. The report will seek to establish a correlation between the level of cooperation of Belarusian authorities with the international human rights system and the human rights situation in the country. The report is not constrained by any specific time frame. All states, international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions, human rights defenders, media, academics, victims of human rights violations, their relatives, and witnesses of human rights violations are invited to share any relevant factual information, evidence and statistics of the above-mentioned questions in English (preferred), Russian and French until 31 May 2024.

On April 8, Aliaksandr Lukashenka appointed Uladzimir Piartsou, who was previously the Minister of Information, as Deputy Head of his administration. According to Lukashenka, “ideological work is coming to the fore today,” and Piartsou in this post will be “the head of information sphere in the country in general.” Lukashenka stressed that “in this difficult period for our country,” the most pressing issues of ideological work are the issues of propaganda and counter-propaganda. Lukashenka believes that his political opponents, who “run around different decision-making centers and advisers from America to Brussels and ask for money,” can ignite the war, and their goal is “to enter Belarus and seize at least a tiny piece of land, declare their power and invite foreign … well, not mercenaries, but already troops.”

It is easy to engage in politics in Belarus because everything is decided for you by the head of state, who thinks strategically, understands, sets the pace, and trends, and “gets anything done anyway,” said a newly elected deputy of the Minsk City Council and STV channel propagandist Yauhen Pustavoy  on the air in the “Skazy ne molchy” (Say don’t be silent) program of the Belarus-1 channel. In his opinion, it is easy to be an official or a deputy in the country, because “there is a president” – “kind of a roof that will protect the Belarusian reality.” Pustavoy admitted that some people cannot carry out land reclamation or remove stones from the fields without a command from above, because the 30-year-old “modern Belarusian statehood” was not enough for the local leaders appointed by Lukashenka himself to learn how to work, and called for “getting involved, working, actively showing themselves”.

On April 9, pro-government expert Aliaksei Dzermant urged “not to follow Western terminology such as “authoritarian alliance”, but to “formalize more clearly” the alliance of Russia-Iran-China-North Korea-Belarus as “something like a Union of traditional values, where religious ideals can be combined with the ideas of socialism and equality”.

On April 11, Lukashenka took part in a festive ceremony honoring Belarusian cosmonauts. He said that the flight of Maryna Vasileuskaya to the International Space Station brought sovereign Belarus both to a new level of participation in space programs and to a new level of allied relations with the Russian Federation. “Maryna is between two empires – the Russian one, the most advanced in space, and the American one. You know, it’s not just an image. This is our country’s greatest victory. Our people deserve it,” he stressed and promised that Belarus would continue to move towards the development of space technologies. On the same day, the Russian news agency Sputnik Belarus reported that a sculpture dedicated to the flight of Maryna Vasileuskaya to the International Space Station will be installed in Minsk. The design is already being developed by sculptor Ivan Misko.

Western countries use neo-Nazism as one of the main tools in the unleashed hybrid war against Belarus and Russia because they “do not need integration unions that are based not only on a political and economic basis but also have a strong historical foundation,” Deputy Siarhei Klishevich believes. He noted that “the aggressive and cynical imposition of Nazi ideology by Western countries in Ukraine” has already led to the loss of sovereignty by this country and the suffering of its people. “Unfortunately, it can be stated that the West has managed to separate Ukraine, as well as Poland and the Baltic States from Russia mentally, historically, and culturally. The same task has been set concerning Belarus today. Moreover, they want not only to separate us but also to set us against each other, using historical facts taken out of context or their distortion. The main task of the West is to weaken Russia, and Belarus is just a tool here. Western politicians and intelligence officers of many states perceive us solely as a battering ram in their fight against Russia, as a territory and a population whose task is to put pressure on our eastern neighbor, to resist it.”

The books of propagandist Andrei Mukavozchyk “Agitator’s Notebook” and “Runaway and Funny” were presented on April 11 at the National Library. “Runaways are becoming more and more ridiculous. But at the same time, these funny people can put a bomb in our statuette at any moment. And this bomb can appear right here, at such a presentation,” the author said, referring to emigrated opposition figures and opponents of the Lukashenka regime. BelTA notes that in his new publications, Mukavozchyk summarizes his personal campaigning and propaganda experience and pays great attention to “clarifying the requirements of the current moment in terms of preserving and strengthening the independence and sovereignty of the country”.

On April 11, Lukashenka went on a visit to Moscow. Before meeting with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, he spoke with Russian journalists and said that Belarus does not need a sanitary zone on the border with Ukraine. This was in response to a question about Putin’s statement that Russia may need a “sanitary zone” in the Ukrainian direction to ensure the security of Russian border areas. During the talks in the Kremlin, Putin said that he intends to continue consultations with Lukashenka on Ukraine, “if necessary,” and called the international conference on “the Ukrainian issue”, which will soon be held in Switzerland, a “panopticon,” since the Russian Federation is not invited there. In response, Lukashenka expressed the opinion that it makes no sense to talk about peace in Ukraine without Russia, suggested returning to the draft Istanbul agreement, and once again expressed his readiness to act as a mediator in the “movement towards peace in Ukraine”: “… if we can play a role in this, you know our capabilities. We will always be there for you, and we will act in line with you.” The statements of Lukashenka and Putin were actively disseminated and supported, including by Belarusian propagandists. For example, Aliaksandr Shpakouski evaluated the results of the meeting in the following way: “Having played ahead of the curve, Lukashenka and Putin knocked this card out of the opponent’s hands. It is proposed to use the Istanbul document, the main parameters of which were worked out in Belarus, as the basis for the future peace treaty. Belarus is still ready to take on the role of a mediator. The peacekeeping mission of the Belarusian diplomacy is well known. It seems that this may be the role of Minsk in the Ukrainian conflict”.

On April 12, Lukashenka told the staff of the Russian state media that statements that France was going to send troops to Ukraine were made in order to scare him and Putin: “The fact that Belarus will enter the war is from the same opera that Putin and I are going to take over Europe tomorrow. Is it true? It is nonsense, it is a complete lie. We have never even discussed this issue.” He also stated that there is no need for Belarus to join the war against Ukraine: “And there will be no such need. I said the day before, that Russia now needs such a Belarus — peaceful, quiet, calm, which does its job. I won’t tell you in detail what we do. I do not deny that we are “co-aggressors”. Putin and I are aggressors, you know, they want to put us on trial… Everyone does their own thing. But I say bluntly: neither I, nor Putin (we also discussed this problem yesterday), we do not want the brotherly Ukrainian people to suffer. We don’t want to!” At the same time, Lukashenka threatened Ukrainians that if they launch drones at oil refineries and similar facilities in Belarus, “the response will arrive instantly in tenfold size.” In his opinion, those “hooray patriots in Russia” who are calling on Belarus to join the war are acting into the hands of NATO, which is “doing everything to drag us into the war with Ukraine.” He drew attention to the fact that the length of the border of the Republic of Belarus with Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic countries is very large, and admitted that he would not be able to “close” it, so he does not want problems for himself by entering the war. It is noteworthy that Lukashenka suggested that “Ukraine may also need such a Belarus” – i.e., “quiet and peaceful”. According to him, it is possible to put Iskander in Belarus and launch a missile at Ukraine, but it is necessary to take into account the consequences, since “half the country is located within a radius of 100 km from Kiev”.

Iran’s attack on Israel with the use of drones and missiles began late in the evening on April 13. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus reacted only closer to noon on April 14, without mentioning either Iran or Israel in its statement: in the first part of the message, Belarusian diplomats expressed deep concern about the “escalation of the situation in the Middle East region,” and in the second they recommended that citizens of the Republic of Belarus “take into account the current situation” when traveling. Against the background of these events, propagandist Ryhor Azaronak concluded that the whole world is sliding into the abyss of a global war, so “we need to prepare – to arm ourselves to the teeth and not be afraid of anything, because those who choose shame, hoping to dodge, will be destroyed first”. Aliaksei Dzermant agreed with him and called for “strengthening our military alliance with Russia”. The pro-government historian Vadzim Hihin laid all the blame for the “situation” on the Americans and suggested that Zelensky and his team are now “in great frustration” because “the world has no thought for them again”.