On December 13, Belarusian authorities released 123 prisoners following negotiations led by the US administration, which had agreed to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash. The majority were sent to Ukraine, and a group of nine to Lithuania. Most of those released had been prosecuted and imprisoned for the peaceful exercise of their human rights.
Their release brings relief and joy to their families, colleagues, friends, and supporters. But the day was bittersweet for everyone who did not find the names of their loved ones on the lists. More than 1,100 individuals remain behind bars also for no more than peacefully exercising their rights.
Among them are Viasna’s board member and human rights advocate Valiantsin Stefanovic, Viasna’s human rights activist and volunteers’ coordinator Marfa Rabkova, and Nasta (Anastasia) Lojka, a prominent human rights defender. All of them are serving draconian sentences in reprisal for their legitimate human rights work.
Nasta (Anastasia) Lojka is a prominent human rights defender, particularly well known for her work on anti-discrimination, equality issues, fair trial, rights of foreigners and stateless persons, and human rights education.
Lojka is a prominent human rights defender, particularly well known for her work on anti-discrimination, equality issues, fair trial, rights of foreigners and stateless persons, and human rights education.
In September-December 2022, Lojka had served a total of six 15-day administrative arrest sentences on bogus “petty hooliganism” administrative charges. On December 24, while still in administrative detention, she was charged with criminal offenses of “organizing group actions grossly violating public order” and “incitement of racial, national, religious or other social enmity or discord.” Lojka suffered ill-treatment and torture both during administrative and pre-trial detention.
In June 2023, the Minsk City Court sentenced Lojka to seven years in prison. A report by Loika on human rights abuses by Belarusian police was used as a key piece of “evidence” against her.
Marfa Rabkova is a human rights activist and coordinator of Viasna’s program for volunteers who, among other things, worked to organize monitoring of elections and of peaceful protests.
Rabkova is a human rights activist and coordinator of Viasna’s program for volunteers who, among other things, worked to organize monitoring of elections and of peaceful protests.
On September 17, 2020, law enforcement raided Rabkova’s home and detained her. Rabkova was charged with “training or other preparation of persons to participate in riots or funding such activities,” “inciting social enmity” and “involvement in a criminal group.”
In September 2022, a court in Minsk sentenced Rabkova to 15 years in prison. She is serving her sentence in Homiel penal colony N4 and her heath has significantly deteriorated due to dire conditions and ill treatment in prison.
You can find out more about imprisoned Viasna activists at the webpage of FreeViasna’s campaign.
Valiantsin Stefanovic is a board member of Viasna and a prominent human rights advocate.
Stefanovic is a board member of Viasna and a prominent human rights advocate.
After a house search and interrogation in July 2021, he was detained on the same bogus charges of “tax evasion” as Bialiatski. In March 2023, a court in Minsk sentenced Stefanovic to nine years in prison for “cash smuggling by an organized group” and “financing activities, grossly violating public order.”
In Belarusian, “Viasna” means spring. When speaking at his show trial, Stefanovich said that prosecution of activists won’t end Viasna’s work. Instead, it will be carried on by new generations of rights defenders. “And in the end, winter will always be followed by spring,” he said.
You can find out more about imprisoned Viasna activists at the webpage of FreeViasna’s campaign.
The recent prisoner release is not the first time Belarusian authorities have freed political prisoners only to expel them from Belarus. The opposition politician Mikalai Statkevich refused to leave the country with the group of prisoners similarly pardoned by Aliaksander Lukashenka in September, following an earlier round of negotiations with the United States. As a result, the authorities returned Statkevich to prison.
Critics of the government should not have to choose between forced exile and prison. Belarus should unconditionally release all political prisoners and stop all politically motivated repression.
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