ARTICLE 19 and Human Constanta thank the Group of Experts for their oral update, and we welcome the opportunity to continue to support their vital work.
Our recent report Quashing Online Dissent highlights how the Belarusian authorities continue to brand almost any dissent as ‘extremism’ through overbroad and vague legislation. Imprecision is the authoritarians’ power – the broader and vaguer the term, the easier it is to convert a meme, a donation, or a simple ‘like’ into a crime. The definitions are stretched, redrafted, and even applied retroactively, so yesterday’s lawful post can become today’s crime.
The cost of this crackdown is measured in lives, with scores of human rights defenders and other civil society actors deemed to be ‘extremists’ dying in detention. While over 300 political prisoners have been released in several waves of pardons, over 1000 remain behind bars for exercising their rights. The testimonies and physical condition of those recently freed reveal the inhumane and degrading treatment endured in detention.
Nasta Loika, a prominent human rights defender, continues to serve a seven-year prison sentence under one of the most notorious ‘extremist’ articles. Nasta was forced to appear in a so-called ‘confession video’, spread on pro-government channels, exacerbating its humiliating effects through online circulation. She has been subject to torture and last month she was moved to confinement in a four-square meter unheated bare cell. Currently on a so-called ‘terrorist list’, all monetary transfers to her are now qualified as ‘terrorism financing’. Her lawyers have been intimidated, disbarred, and persecuted.
As Belarusian authorities intensify their crackdown, they are fostering fear and isolation and dismantling social bonds that sustain civic resistance and democracy, further entrenching authoritarian rule.
We urge States to intensify their demands that Belarus comply with its international human rights obligations, including to explicitly call for the immediate release of Nasta Loika and all other prisoners sentenced on politically-motivated grounds, as well as to explore additional avenues for accountability.
We once again express our full support to the Group of Experts and encourage them to continue their great work monitoring and reporting on developments related to anti-extremism.