Human Rights Centre “Viasna” SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS in BELARUS in 2014 REVIEW-CHRONICLE Minsk, 2015 SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN BELARUS in 2014 REVIEW-CHRONICLE Author and compiler: Tatsiana Reviaka Editor and author of the foreword: Valiantsin Stefanovich The edition was prepared on the basis of reviews of human rights violations in Belarus published every month in 2014. Each of the monthly reviews includes an analysis of the most important events infl uencing the observance of human rights and outlines the most eloquent and characteristic facts of human rights abuses registered over the described period. The review was prepared on the basis of personal appeals of victims of human rights abuses and the facts which were either registered by human rights activists or reported by open informational sources. The book features photos from the archive of the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, as well as from publications on the websites of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty Belarus service, the Nasha Niva newspaper, tv.lrytas.lt, baj.by, gazetaby.com, and taken by Franak Viachorka and Siarhei Hudzilin. Human Rights Situation in 2014: Trends and Evaluation The situation of human rights during 2014 remained consistently poor with a tendency to deterioration at the end of the year. Human rights violations were of both systemic and systematic nature: basic civil and political rights were extremely restricted, there were no systemic changes in the fi eld of human rights (at the legislative level and (or) at the level of practices). The only positive development during the year was the early release of Ales Bialiatski, Chairman of the Human Rights Centre “Viasna” and Vice-President of the International Federation for Human Rights. However, his release did not become a positive trend and received no further continuation. — as of late 2014, Belarusian prisons held six political prisoners: Mikalai Statkevich, Mikalai Dziadok, Ihar Alinevich, Artsiom Prakapenka, Yauhen Vaskovich and Yury Rubtsou; — the release of political prisoners Mikalai Autukhovich, Andrei Haidukou, Uladzimir Yaromenak, Vasil Parfi ankou and Eduard Lobau was solely due to the expiration of their sentences and is not indicative of the political will of the country’s leadership to address the issue of political prisoners; — the practice of criminal prosecution for political reasons still persisted. During the year, the authorities opened three new politically motivated criminal cases: against political prisoner Mikalai Dziadok (Article 411 of the Criminal Code), a journalist of the newspaper Belorusy i Rynok Aliaksandr Alesin (Article 356.1 of the Criminal Code) and activist from Homel Yury Rubtsou (Article 391 of the Criminal Code). Yury Rubtsou was sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment in an open penal facility under a ruling of Minsk’s Tsentralny District Court; — the authorities still used the practice of administrative prosecution of peaceful protesters. A total of 53 persons were prosecuted under administrative procedures (Article 23.34 of the Administrative Code, “violation of the order of organizing and holding mass events”). According to the Human Rights Centre “Viasna”, politically motivated administrative arrest was imposed in 104 cases (arrest was applied to 88 people, some of them faced repeated penalties), and 57 people were fi ned; — during the year, the authorities made extensive use of the practice of arbitrary detention of civil society and political activists, especially on the eve of important political and social events. In particular, 38 activists were subjected to arbitrary detention ahead of the Ice Hockey World Championship in Minsk. In addition, arbitrary detention during this period was used against so-called social outcasts in order to create a positive image among foreign tourists coming to Minsk; [ 3 SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN BELARUS IN 2014 — the local elections, which took place in March 2014, according to the campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections”, were accompanied with serious violations of the OSCE principles of democratic and fair elections and the standards set forth by the Belarusian legislation. The atmosphere of political persecution and repression of opponents of the regime, against which the electoral campaign was held, restrictions during the formation of election commissions and campaigning activities had a negative impact on the freedom of choice. Lack of transparency of vote counting did not give grounds to assert that the election results refl ected the will of the Belarusian people. — human rights defenders still reported the practice of putting pressure on them and their organizations. A decision to expel director of the Centre for Legal Transformation “Lawtrend”, a citizen of the Russian Federation, Elena Tonkacheva is a striking example of government policies on the issue of human rights defenders; — the authorities still used the practice of administrative responsibility and the use of other forms of pressure against independent journalists working for foreign media without accreditation. The newly-adopted amendments to the Law “On Mass Media” created a legal basis for further control over the Internet and are perceived as a risk of the introduction of total censorship of media sphere. A wave of blocking a number of independent websites and online outlets further confi rmed these negative effects of legislative innovations; — three death sentences were carried out during the year and one death convict was on death row in the Interior Ministry’s jail No. 1 awaiting execution; — During the year, state media and governing bodies actively conducted a discussion on the need for responsibility for unemployed persons and the possibility of using forced labour against this category of citizens, which in a cluster with the existing elements of forced labour in the country indicates the continuation of violations of social and economic rights of citizens; — Belarus continued a policy of ignoring its international commitments and mechanisms for the protection of human rights within the UN system. I. Global challenges to human rights activities The entire 2014 was marked by serious geopolitical changes that affected both the international context as a whole, and the political situation in Belarus. The Russian aggression against Ukraine, occupation and annexation of Crimea became a serious challenge to the former Soviet Union, Europe and other countries of the world. For the fi rst time ever after the collapse of the Soviet Union, one of the guarantors of independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, in accordance with the Budapest Memorandum, undertook a military aggression against the country. Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s territory, a 4 ] SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN BELARUS IN 2014 blatant interference in its internal affairs helped fuel the military confl ict in the south-east of the country, threatening its territorial integrity, and resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, destabilizing the situation in the entire post- Soviet region and triggering an international crisis. Events in the neighbouring state had a heavy impact on society in Belarus, most of which is under the infl uence of Russian media propaganda. Sociologists reported a decrease in the pro-European sentiment of the Belarusian society and, consequently, the growth of pro-Russian attitude, an increasing demand for the idea of a “strong government” and authoritarian leaders. These trends had a clearly negative aftermath both for the opportunity to promote the ideas of human rights and for human rights activities in the territory of the former Soviet Union and in Belarus, in particular. The ideas of revisiting the principles of universality of human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration were increasingly voiced in the rhetoric of the leaders of a number of post-Soviet and other countries. Moreover, as a rule, they were expressed in the context of a general anti-Western rhetoric. Human rights were often proclaimed the invention of the Western civilization, strange and even hostile, destructive for “traditional values”, a threat to “specifi c and spiritual civilizations”. Following the outburst of crisis in Ukraine, anti-Western rhetoric, especially in the Russian media, considerably increased. Belarus is no exception in this regard. No wonder that human rights activities in this discourse receive a predominantly negative context, it appears as a hostile and anti-state activity, while human rights defenders are labelled as agents of foreign infl uence or even agents of the “universal liberal conspiracy” and “foreign agents or a fi fth column”. An example of this is the speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Uladzimir Makei at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 30, 2014. He noted in particular: “To be sure, a multitude of factors determine the dynamics of contemporary global politics. From our perspective, as one of the key factors we would like single out the resistance on the part of the world’s majority population to the imposition on them of something external. Indeed, very much like in the past, the “mighty of the world” persist in believing that only their vision and their development model stand as universal. Therefore, they do not ask others whether they like or dislike, for instance, so-called “liberal democracy” or the “Washington consensus”. Others are just forced to confront a choice — either you accept our “recipes” or be ready to deal with the consequences like threats, sanctions and “colour revolutions”. To be honest, we, that is, the majority, have already got used to the situation when alien political and economic models are being foisted upon us. We [ 5 SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN BELARUS IN 2014 clearly understand what stands behind that. Someone wants our nations to feed transnational corporate capital rather than ourselves. If we resist — we come under punishment. The pretext is always far-fetched — alleged violation of human rights by “unruly” states. Having been subjected to external attacks for many years, countries like Belarus, Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela surely feel such pressure much more than others.