Belarus’ Persecution of Political Prisoners
In 2020, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko announced that he had won the country’s most recent presidential election – for the sixth time. Lukashenko has served as the country’s president for 28 years, however, every election has been deemed fraudulent since his initial victory in 1994. The 2020 election sparked months of mass political demonstrations across the country. It’s estimated that between 100,000 and 220,000 people participated in the protests, making them the largest demonstrations in Belarus’ history. To suppress his critics, Lukashenko launched a series of mass arrests. As of this year, Belarusian authorities have around 1,300 political prisoners in custody according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
A 2020 report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) detailed the torture and abuse suffered by Belarusian prisoners. Prisoners are reportedly sleeping in freezing rooms, deprived of food and water, beaten severely, and denied medical care. Due to these unlivable conditions, it is not shocking to learn that there have been several instances of prisoners dying in Belarusian custody.
Following the election, Belarus dealt out lengthy, harsh sentences to political prisoners associated with democratic movements. Marfa Rabkova, a coordinator for Viasna Human Rights Centre, was sentenced to 15 years in a penal colony. Rabkova was found guilty of a slew of accusations, including the “creation of a criminal organization or its leadership,” “organization of riots,” and “incitement to hatred.” In the same trial, nine other political prisoners were each sentenced to between five and 17 years in prison.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko’s biggest opponent in the 2020 election, was forced to flee the country quickly after the election. Of the country’s democracy movement, Tsikhanouskaya said, “because of repressions in our country, people can’t rise up vocally… but it’s very important for our international allies to understand that with everything is going on, people are not giving up.” Tsikhanouskaya decided to run in the election following the arrest of her husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, a leader in Belarus’ opposition movement. Tikhanovsky, who planned to challenge Lukashenko in the 2020 election, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Lukashenko, who described himself as “the last dictator in Europe,” has also been able to weaken his opposition by cutting citizens off from independent media sources. During the widespread protests, Lukashenko targeted independent news sources and reporting organizations. Viasna was active in reporting instances of human rights violations and was likely targeted by the government as a result. Perhaps most famously, Belarusian authorities grounded a RyanAir plane to arrest Roman Protasevich, a journalist and exiled dissident. Belarusian authorities’ targeting of media personnel has led to the arrests of many journalists and the shutdown of almost all the country’s independent media organizations.
Lukashenko has further escalated his attacks on political prisoners by instituting the death penalty for those convicted of “attempts to carry out terrorism.” This is a flagrant intensification of Lukashenko’s attack on the democracy movement as there are dozens of political activists, including Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, charged with attempted terrorism.
In response to the escalation, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said, “It is particularly alarming given that the Belarusian authorities have a dangerously vague definition of ‘terrorism,’ with terrorism-related charges used to prosecute political dissent.” With so many Belarusians political protestors charged with terrorism, Lukashenko’s death penalty is fearmongering tactic to suppress the democratic movement.
The international community responded to Belarus’ human rights violations by imposing strict sanctions on the country. However, Belarus has largely been protected from feeling the effects of sanctions by Russian loans and support. Despite Lukashenko’s attempt to suppress news of political prisoners, reports have still leaked detailing the harsh treatment and interrogation of prisoners. In September 2022, United States OSCE Ambassador Michael Carpenter addressed the Permanent Council in Vienna. In his remarks, Carpenter highlighted the Belarusian government's ongoing human rights violations. He called on Belarus to implement the Moscow Mechanism recommendations, which involves releasing prisoners and ending all violence against peaceful protestors. The international community needs to find a solution to hold Belarus to these recommendations and secure safety for the country’s political prisoners.