Hundreds of Belarusians in Prison for Exercising Their Rights

Dzianis Ivashyn is an investigative journalist and editor of an online outlet investigating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since 2014. He has also reported extensively on Russia’s influence on Belarus and Syria.

In March 2021, State Security Service officials detained Ivashyn and raided his home and the homes of his mother and grandmother, seizing all devices, notebooks, and sim cards. In September 2022, Ivashyn was sentenced to 13 years and 1 month in a heightened security prison for “high treason” and “interfering with the work of the law enforcement officer.”

In June 2023, Ivashyn was transferred to Zhodzina Maximum Security Prison N8, known for its harsh prison conditions. Ivashyn’s family has very limited contact with him. He is subject to repeated and protracted isolation in punishment cells.

Belarusian authorities detained Aliaksandra Kasko in February 2023 and held her for ten days for the administrative offense of “dissemination of extremist materials”. She was formally charged during her detention. 

In September 2023, the authorities listed Kasko as person involved in “terrorism activities.” In December of that year, Hrodna regional court convicted Kasko and sentenced her to 10 years in prison for “inciting hatred,” “unlawful actions with personal data,” “creation of extremist formation or participation in one,” “aiding extremist activities,” “slandering” Belarusian President Aliaksander Lukashenka and “insulting” him and others.

The prosecution alleged Kasko administered and posted on Telegram channels declared “extremist” in Belarus. According to Viasna, Kasko was also charged for two interviews she had given to “extremist” media.

In April 2024, the authorities added Kasko’s name on the official list of persons involved in “extremism.”

Kasko was last known to be serving her sentence in Homiel Penal Colony N 4 for women, also known for its harsh treatment of political prisoners.

Stsiapan Latypau lived near the “Square of Change,” a neighborhood in Minsk where people typically gathered for peaceful protests. 

On September 15, 2020, police detained Latypau for creating a neighborhood Telegram chat and opening a shop with peaceful protest symbols, as well as supposedly resisting a police officer during his detention and misleading customers in his capacity as a landscaping company director. He has been behind bars ever since. In August 2021, the Soviet district court in Minsk sentenced him to 8 years and 6 months in prison for “organizing and preparing for actions grossly violating public order, or active participation in them,” “resisting a police officer” and “committing fraud as a part of an organized group on a large scale.” Latypau denied the charges. 

During a court appearance, Latypau showed traces of having been beaten and attempted suicide with a pen. He had also attempted suicide in prison on at least two occasions. Latypau was repeatedly held in isolation in punishment cells for lengthy periods and served two and a half years under a heightened security regime in prison N4 in Mahiliau, known for harsh prison conditions. In December 2024, he fell sick with scurvy. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Bialiatski is the founder and chairman of the Human Rights Center “Viasna,” one of the country’s leading rights groups, and a laureate of the 2022 Noble Prize for Peace.

In 2011, the authorities sentenced Bialiatski to 4.5 years in prison after convicting him on bogus “tax evasion” charges but released him in a 2014 amnesty. In July 2021, the authorities arrested Bialiatski and his Viasna colleagues again on bogus “tax evasion” charges in reprisal for Viasna’s human rights work. In March 2023, a court in Minsk sentenced him to 10 years in prison for “financing activities, grossly violating public order” and “smuggling” cash by an organized group.

You can find out more about imprisoned Viasna activists at the webpage of FreeViasna’s campaign. 

Labkovich is a lawyer at Viasna and coordinator of the campaign Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections, which monitors elections in Belarus.

In July 2021, law enforcement agents arrested Labkovich on bogus tax evasion charges along with his colleagues Bialiatski and Stefanovic. In March 2023, a court in Minsk sentenced Labkovich to seven years in prison for “cash smuggling by an organized group” and “financing activities, grossly violating public order.”

Labkovich’s health deteriorated behind bars, according to Viasna.  

You can find out more about imprisoned Viasna activists at the webpage of FreeViasna’s campaign.