UN: Human rights situation in Belarus continues to deteriorate
The already fatal human rights situation in Belarus continues to deteriorate. This was stated on Thursday, March 2, by the UN Special Rapporteur for Belarus, Anais Marin, on the sidelines of a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. These words of hers were heard on the eve of the announcement of the verdict to the Belarusian human rights activist, Nobel laureate Ales Byalyatsky and his associates in Minsk.
According to Marin, there are now at least 1,400 political prisoners in Belarus, including 32 journalists. The UN Special Rapporteur recalled the systematic violations of the rights of citizens of the Republic of Belarus to freedom of expression, as well as the fact that more than 700 public organizations were forced to close following the harsh repression of protests against the falsification of the presidential elections in 2020.
The UN expert also expressed concern that the human rights situation in Belarus may “disappear off the radar” because all independent media outlets in the country have been forced to silence.
Trial of Ales Byalyatsky
Ales Bialiatski was detained in Belarus on 14 July 2021. The trial of him and his associates in the human rights movement Viasna began in early January 2023. They are accused of smuggling money and financing protests. Human rights activists face up to 12 years in prison. They will announce their verdict on Friday, March 3rd.
In October 2022, Bialiatsky, along with human rights activists from the Russian “Memorial” and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, received the Nobel Peace Prize. At that time, he had been imprisoned for almost 15 months.
Lukashenka regime takes revenge on dissidents
At the end of October last year, the UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus, Anais Marin, presented a report on why opposition Belarusians are forced to flee the country en masse. Among other things, the document described a “witch hunt” by the Belarusian state and systematic violations of human rights in the country.
“Two years ago, people couldn’t protest, they were intimidated. Now politics is more like revenge, as if the State wanted to take revenge on people for what happened in 2020”, said the expert.
Source: DW
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