All Political Prisoners in Belarus Must Be Released and Rehabilitated

Photo Credit: Frontline Defenders

On the second anniversary of the violent government crackdown on peaceful post-election protests in Minsk, Belarus, Freedom House strongly reiterates its call for the unconditional release and full rehabilitation of all political prisoners.

On the night of December 19, 2010, over 30,000 people gathered on the central square of Minsk anticipating the invalidation of the presidential election results following a deeply flawed election process. After a campaign season marked by an unprecedented level of opposition activity, millions of Belarusians dared to hope for a final change from Aleksandr Lukashenka’s uninterrupted 16-year rule. Despite the peaceful nature of the rally, riot police brutally dispersed the public gathering, detaining over 700 people, including six of the seven presidential candidates from the opposition.

In the past two years, government pressure on civic and political activity in Belarus increased. Lukashenka’s regime took systematic steps to silence critics, passing one bizarre piece of legislation after another to curb silent protests and clapping in the streets, imposing travel bans, threatening independent media, and detaining activists on alleged charges of hooliganism and disorderly conduct. Having silenced political opponents, Lukashenka shifted to cracking down on those who had been providing assistance to the victims of the regime. The prominent human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, Vice-President of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and President of the Human Rights Center Viasna, was arrested and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison in November 2011 on trumped-up charges of tax evasion.

“Freedom House calls on the government of Belarus to immediately release and rehabilitate all political prisoners,” said Freedom House president David J. Kramer. “Twelve political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus, including six on criminal charges related to the December 2010 events, and their release is purely the matter of will of a single individual, Lukashenka. By imposing the status of ‘malicious offenders of prison regime’ on political prisoners, penitentiary courts effectively cut off all legal avenues for their release. This has left them with an unconscionable choice – to make a personal appeal to Lukashenka for pardon thus admitting to crimes they have not committed. ”

“We stand in unity with these brave individuals,” continued Kramer. “Despite the incessant attempts of the Belarusian authorities to break their will even after sentencing, these activists have remained resilient, demonstrating unwavering belief in human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The twelve political prisoners remaining in Belarus are Ihar Alinevich, Mikalai Autukhovich, Ales Bialiatski, Zmitser Dashkevich, Mikalai Dziadok, Aliaksandr Frantskevich, Eduard Lobau, Vasil Parfiankou, Artsiom Prakapenka, Pavel Seviarynets, Mikalai Statkevich and Yauhen Vaskovich.

For more than a decade, Belarus has been rated Not Free in Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World survey and is among the “Worst of the Worst” of the world’s most repressive societies, also rated Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2012 and Freedom on the Net 2012.

For more information, visit:

Freedom in the World 2012: Belarus

Nations in Transit 2012: Belarus

Worst of the Worst 2012: Belarus

Freedom of the Press 2012: Belarus

Freedom on the Net 2012: Belarus

Blog: Do’s and Don’ts on Belarus

Belarusian Dream

Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.

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