Human Rights Situation in Belarus: April 2019
Summary:
- political prisoner Mikhail Zhamchuzhny continued to serve his sentence in a prison in Horki;
- on April 18, the court of the Lieninski district of Brest sentenced local blogger Siarhei Piatrukhin to a fine of 9,180 rubles (USD 4,381), finding him guilty of crimes under Part 2, Art. 188 (defamation) and Part 2, Art. 189 (insult) of the Criminal Code. Also, the court sustained the civil claims of four victims, employees of the Lieninski district police department for a total of 7,750 rubles or 3,700 US dollars. Thus, the blogger will have to pay a total of USD 8,000;
- the authorities discontinued a criminal investigation against blogger Andrei Pavuk. However, they have not closed the criminal case under Part 1, Art. 340 (knowingly false threat message) into a false bomb threat to the executive committee building in the town of Akciabrski allegedly sent from Pavuk’s email address to the Homieĺ regional office of the Emergencies Ministry. The investigators have not returned the equipment seized from the blogger during the search at his apartment;
- during the month, the authorities continued to investigate a criminal case against blogger Aliaksandr Kabanau from Biaroza, Brest region. Kabanau is accused under Part 1, Art. 211 CC (embezzlement).
- the opposition forces withdrew their bid to host the traditional demonstration Čarnobyĺski Šliach due to lack of funds to pay for the costs associated with its organization. The total expenditure amounted to 5,737 rubles, or more than 2,300 US dollars;
- journalists working with foreign media without accreditation were still prosecuted in court;
- in April, there were new cases of citizens being prosecuted under administrative procedures for the spread of so-called “extremist materials”, including on the Internet. In most cases, the charges constituted an illegal and disproportionate restriction on freedom of expression;
- human rights defenders documented more cases of arrests and administrative sentences in connection with the exercise of freedom of peaceful assembly;
- activist Dzmitry Paliyenka is still held in a jail in Žodzina. After 16 days of detention, he finally faced charges under Part 3, Art. 339 of the Criminal Code (especially malicious hooliganism), Art. 130 (inciting discord) and Art. 341 of the Criminal Code (desecration of the buildings and property damage). The Human Rights Center “Viasna” continues to closely monitor this criminal case;
- in general, April was marked by a certain deterioration of the overall human rights situation in the country and the negative trends that had emerged in March were further developed. At the same time, the authorities were still trying to avoid the use of most severe forms of repression against civil society and the political opposition;
- during his address to the Parliament, President Lukashenka said the next parliamentary elections were scheduled for November. Thus, the powers of the current MPs will be reduced by almost one year, which runs counter to the country’s Constitution.
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