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Category: belarus

  • Two lawyers from Belarus share Lawyers for Lawyers Award 2021

    Belarusian lawyers Maksim Znak and Liudmila Kazak will receive the Lawyers for Lawyers Award 2021. The Award will be presented at a ceremony co-hosted by Lawyers for Lawyers and the Amsterdam Bar Association in the Rode Hoed in Amsterdam on 18 November 2021. For more on this award and its laureates, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/B40861B3-0BE3-4CAF-A417-BC4F976E9CB0

    “By awarding Maksim Znak and Liudmila Kazak the Lawyers for Lawyers Award, the jury wants to highlight the important work of both lawyers who bravely represented Belarusian human rights defenders and opposition leaders and are paying a high price for their work. With this Award, the jury also wants to raise awareness of other Belarusian lawyers who have been subjected to pressure, harassment and intimidation in connection to their professional activities especially in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential elections”.

    Maksim Znak and Liudmila Kazak laureates Lawyers for Lawyers Award 2021

    Maksim Znak                                                                                     

    Maksim Znak represented Viktor Babaryko, a potential candidate in the presidential elections who was not allowed to formally register. He also provided legal assistance to Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a former candidate for the presidency who is now in exile, and Maria Kolesnikova, Coordination Council co-leader. On 9 September 2020, Mr. Znak was arrested for allegedly having committed the offence of “calls to actions seeking to undermine national security” in violation of Article 361(3) of the Criminal Code of Belarus. In February 2021, additional charges were added, including “conspiracy to seize state power” and “organising extremism”. On 6 September 2021, Mr. Znak was sentenced to 10 years in prison during a closed-door-trial. His sentencing is another indication of the challenging working environment in which Belarusian lawyers must operate.

    Liudmila Kazak

    Liudmila Kazak is a human rights lawyer who has defended political prisoners, human rights defenders, and journalists, including the opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova. On 24 September 2020, she was detained. The next day, the court held Kazak administratively liable for disobeying police officers based on testimony given by anonymous masked witnesses who appeared via Skype and claimed to be the arresting officers. She was sentenced to a fine under article 23.4 of the Belarusian Administrative Code and released on 26 September 2020. On 11 February 2021, she was notified of a pending disciplinary proceeding against her before the Qualification Commission for legal practice in the Republic of Belarus. On 19 February 2021, the Qualification Commission disbarred Ms. Kazak. Ms. Kazak appealed the decision, but, on 15 April 2021, a district court upheld Ms. Kazak’s disbarment. On 17 June 2021, an appellate court upheld the district court decision.

    For 2019 award, see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2019/05/21/lawyers-for-lawyers-award-to-turkish-human-rights-defender-selcuk-kozagacli-on-23-may/

    Maksim Znak and Liudmila Kazak laureates Lawyers for Lawyers Award 2021

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Weaponised Refugees and Hybrid Attacks

    Refugees and asylum seekers provide rich pickings for demagogues and political opportunists.  The Australian approach politicises their plight by arguing that they are illegitimate depending on the way they arrive, namely, by boat.  The twentieth anniversary of the MV Tampa’s attempt to dock at Christmas Island with over 400 such individuals inaugurated a particularly vicious regime.  Intercepted by Australia’s SAS forces in August 2001, it presented the Howard government with a stupendously cruel chance to garner votes.  And my, did that government garner them with gusto!

    Various European countries have also adopted an approach akin to this: naval arrivals from the Middle East and Africa are to be contained, detained, and preferably processed in third countries through a range of agreements.  The common theme to all: firm border controls and deterrence.

    Belarus has added another option to the armoury of refugee use and abuse.  The country, under Alexander Lukashenko, has hit upon a shoddy plan to harry countries sympathetic to his opponents and responsible for imposing sanctions upon his regime: swamp them.  First: entice refugees and migrants from a number of countries – Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and Cameroon – to arrive on tourist visas.  Mobilise said people to move across the Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian borders.

    Descriptions have been offered for the strategy.  Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis considered the acts on the part of Belarus as a “hybrid war operation” that threatened, he claimed with dramatic effect, “the entire European Union”.  In July, he told Deutsche Welle that the refugees concerned were being used as “human shields” and a type of “hybrid weapon”.   Lithuanian Deputy Interior Minister Arnoldas Abramavičius resented his country’s border guards “acting as a kind of hotel reception for the migrants for a long time. That had to stop.”

    Member states have been sharing experiences on how best to deal with the surge in these Lukashenko arrivals.  In a meeting between Landsbergis and his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias in June, much solidarity was felt in discussing how to combat a common threat.  Human rights proved to be less important than territorial integrity and European defence.  As the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry stated, both ministers “underscored the importance of European solidarity and the need to pay attention to the processes in the EU neighbourhood, as well as to be ready to respond to dangerous threats emerging from the EU’s neighbourhood.”

    Guards along the Lithuanian border had, up till August, intercepted approximately 4,100 refugees and asylum seekers this year alone.  Last year, that number was a mere 81.  The numbers prompted the Baltic state to declare a state of emergency in July.  The resources of Frontex, that less than transparent body otherwise known as the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, deployed personnel with haste that same month to aid policing the border with Lithuania and Latvia.

    According to Frontex, the initial support would involve “border surveillance and other border management functions.  The operation will start with the deployment of 10 officers with patrol cars, and their numbers will be gradually increased.”

    The agency’s executive director Fabrice Leggeri was brimming with praise for the organisation’s military-styled prowess, suggesting aid in the face of threatening barbarians at the frontier of Europe.  “The quick deployment in support of Lithuania and Latvia highlights the value of the Frontex standing troops, which allows the Agency to quickly react to unexpected challenges, bringing European solidarity to support Member States at the external borders.”

    Humanitarianism is the last thing on Leggeri’s mind as he speaks about the role of “additional border guards and patrol guards by Frontex” as they “work side-by-side with their Latvian and Lithuanian colleagues” to “protect our external borders” in common cause.

    Earlier this month Poland joined Lithuania with alarmist fervour, declaring a state of emergency.  It served the purpose of needlessly militarising the situation even as it appealed to the inner jingo.  Tellingly, it is the first such order since the country’s communist era, proscribing mass gatherings and limiting people’s movements within a 3 km strip of land along the frontier for 30 days.  Marta Anna Kurzyniec, resident of the Polish border town of Krynki, described an atmosphere that was “generally violent”.  There were “uniformed, armed servicemen everywhere … it reminds me of war.”

    To the use of troops can be added such inhospitable barriers as the construction of a 508 km razor-wire fence by the Lithuanian authorities.  Lithuania’s Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte considered it an essential part of her country’s strategy of repelling unwanted arrivals. “The physical barrier is vital to repel this hybrid attack, which the Belarus regime is undertaking against Lithuania.”

    Political figures such as Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Lithuania’s Landsbergis have also encouraged disseminating stern messages of disapproval to those trying to enter their countries.  “We need to inform the people that they are being lied to,” huffed Landsbergis.  “They are being promised an easy passage to Europe, a very free life in Europe.  This is not going to happen.”  Morawiecki, despite claiming some sympathy for “the migrants who have been in an extremely difficult situation” felt that “it should be clearly stated that they are a political instrument.”

    The situation has also seen the European Court of Human Rights make a much needed appearance in its request that both Poland and Latvia “provide all the applicants with food, water, clothing, adequate medical care and, if possible, temporary shelter.”  The Court, however, wanted it known “that this measure should not be understood as requiring that Poland or Latvia let the applicants enter their territories.”

    The Polish government, for its part, insists that their hearts have not hardened, dabbling in its own bit of dissembling for the press.  As a spokeswoman for the interior ministry claimed, “These people are on the Belarusian side of the border.”

    The manipulation of such human traffic created its fair share of bestial realities ignoring the fundamentals of the UN Refugee Convention and an assortment of international instruments, including the Geneva Convention.  This is particularly so regarding a number of Afghan refugees who find themselves stuck at Usnarz Gorny, 55 km east of Bialystok.  “They’re the victims of the political game between countries,” came the accurate assessment from Amnesty International Poland’s Aleksandra Fertlinska.  “But what is the most important is that it doesn’t matter what is the source of this political game.  They are refugees, and they are protected by [the] Geneva Convention what we need to do is accept them.”

    One Iraqi refugee by the name of Slemen, finding himself in the drenched environs of Rūdninki, some 38 kilometres from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, offers his own relevant observation.  “Just because we came through Belarus doesn’t make us bad people,” he explained to Der Spiegel. But bad he, and his fellow travellers, are being made out to be by states who overlook the compassion of processing claims in favour of an instinctive politics stressing deluge and threat rather than salvation and hope.

    The post Weaponised Refugees and Hybrid Attacks first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Belarus repression and the Taliban advance: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

    A round-up of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Thailand to Mexico

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • New wave of arrests in Belarus as more than 20 detained in two days

    Opposition figure, lawyers and former envoy among latest detained in six cities a year after disputed presidential poll

    Belarusian authorities have detained more than 20 people in the latest wave of arrests, continuing their sweeping crackdown on dissent a year after a disputed presidential election, human rights activists say.

    Belarus was rocked by protests which were fuelled by the 9 August 2020 re-election of the authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, to a sixth term in a vote that the opposition and the west rejected as a sham. Lukashenko responded to the demonstrations, the largest of which drew up to 200,000 people, with huge repressions in which more than 35,000 people were arrested and thousands beaten by police.

    Belarusian authorities have ramped up the clampdown in recent months, arresting scores of independent journalists, activists and all those deemed not loyal. The Viasna human rights centre said on Thursday that more than 20 people have been detained over the past two days in six cities across the country.

    Related: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: ‘Belarusians weren’t ready for this level of cruelty’

    Related: Belarus regime steps up ‘purge’ of activists and media

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: ‘Belarusians weren’t ready for this level of cruelty’

    Opposition leader speaks to the Guardian a year after anti-Lukashenko protests began, as crackdown continues

    A year has passed since Belarusians took to the streets to challenge the authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, over stolen elections, marking the greatest crisis of his 27 years in power and the most harrowing year in the country’s modern history.

    In an interview, the opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya issued a message of defiance tinged with pain as she detailed the toll that the last year has taken on the 35,000 jailed, hundreds tortured, and thousands more forced to flee the country or hide from Lukashenko’s crackdown.

    Related: Belarus regime steps up ‘purge’ of activists and media

    Related: Belarus exiles fear the long arm of the vengeful dictator in Minsk

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Belarus regime steps up ‘purge’ of activists and media

    Alexander Lukashenko leading ‘vicious operation to eviscerate critical voices’ and civil society, rights groups warn

    Aleysa Ivanova wakes up each morning wondering when the knock on her door will come.

    “You understand you can be next. Every day I wake up, I think ‘maybe it’ll be tomorrow, maybe today. Maybe they’ll come for me this evening’,” said Ivanova (not her real name).

    Related: Danger escalates for Belarusian dissidents in shadow of regime

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Results of 47th session of the Human Rights Council

    The ISHR and 17 other organisations (see below for their names) share reflections on the key outcomes of the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council, as well as the missed opportunities to address key issues and situations. See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2021/06/22/key-issues-affecting-hrds-in-47th-session-of-un-human-rights-council-june-2021/

    CIVIL SOCIETY PARTICIPATION

    We deplore the systemic underfunding of the UN human rights system and the drive for so-called efficiency, including the cancellation of general debates in June, which are a vital part of the agenda by which NGOs can address the Council without restrictions. We call for the reinstatement of general debates at all sessions, with the option of civil society participation through video statements.  We welcome the focus of the civil society space resolution on the critical role played by civil society in the COVID-19 response, and the existential threats to civil society engendered or exacerbated by the pandemic. For the resolution to fulfil its goal, States must now take action to address these threats; while we welcome the broad support indicated by a consensus text, this cannot come at the cost of initiatives that will protect and support civil society.

    HUMAN RIGHTS ONLINE

    We welcome a resolution on the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet and its thematic focus on bridging digital divides, an issue which has become ever-important during the COVID-19 pandemic. We urge all States to implement the resolution by taking concrete measures to enhance Internet accessibility and affordability and by ceasing Internet shutdowns and other disruptions, such as website blocking and filtering and network throttling. In future iterations of the text, we encourage the core group to go further in mentioning concrete examples that could be explored by States in adopting alternative models for expanding accessibility, such as the sharing of infrastructure and community networks.  We welcome the resolution on new and emerging digital technologies and human rights, which aims to promote a greater role for human rights in technical standard-setting processes for new and emerging digital technologies, and in the policies of States and businesses. While aspects of the resolution risk perpetuating “technology solutionism”, we welcome that it places a stronger focus on the human rights impacts of new and emerging digital technologies since the previous version of the resolution, such as introducing new language reiterating the importance of respecting and promoting human rights in the conception, design, use, development, further deployment and impact assessments of such technologies.

    GENDER EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION

    We are concerned by the increasing number of amendments and attempts to weaken the texts. We are particularly concerned by the continued resistance of many States to previously adopted texts and States’ willful misinterpretation of key concepts related in resolutions on human rights in the context of HIV and AIDS, accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls: preventing and responding to all forms of violence against women and girls with disabilities and preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights on maternal morbidities. We deplore the instrumentalising of women’s rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights. We encourage States to center the rights of people most affected and adopt strong texts on these resolutions. We welcome the resolution on menstrual hygiene management, human rights and gender equality as the first step in addressing deep-rooted stigma and discrimination. We urge all States to address the root causes for the discrimination and stigma on menstruation and its impact.

    RACIAL JUSTICE AND EQUALITY

    The High Commissioner’s report highlighted the long-overdue need to confront legacies of slavery, the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and colonialism and to seek reparatory justice. We welcome the historic consensus decision, led by the Africa Group, to adopt a resolution mandating an independent international expert mechanism to address systemic racism and promote racial justice and equality for Africans and people of African descent. The adoption of this resolution is testament to the resilience, bravery and commitment of victims, their families, their representatives and anti-racism defenders globally. We deplore efforts by some Western States, particularly former colonial powers, to weaken the text and urge them to now cooperate fully with the mechanism to dismantle systemic racism, ensure accountability and reparations for past and present gross human rights violations against Black people, end impunity for racialized State violence and address the root causes, especially the legacies of enslavement, colonialism, and the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans.

    MIGRANTS RIGHTS

    Whilst we welcome the return of a resolution on human rights of migrants, we deplore the continued failure of the Council to respond meaningfully to the severity and global scale of human rights violations at international borders including connected to pushbacks. International borders are not and must not be treated as places outside of international human rights law. Migrants are not and must not be treated as people outside of international human rights law. Expressions of deep concern in interactive dialogues must be translated into action on independent monitoring and accountability.

    ARMS TRANSFERS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

    We welcome the resolution on the impact of arms transfers on human rights and its focus on children and youth. However, we note with concern the resistance of the Council to meaningfully focus on legal arms transfers beyond those diverted, unregulated or illicitly transferred. The Council should be concerned with all negative human rights impacts of arms transfers, without focusing only on those stemming from diversion and unregulated or illicit trade.

    CLIMATE CHANGE

    We are disappointed that the resolution on human rights and climate change fails to establish a new Special Rapporteur. However, we welcome the increasing cross regional support for a new mandate. It is a matter of urgent priority for the Council to establish it this year.

    COUNTRY SPECIFIC SITUATIONS

    ALGERIA

    While special procedures, the OHCHR and multiple States have recognized the intensifying Algerian authorities’ crackdown on freedom of association and expression, the Council failed to act to protect Algerians striving to advance human rights and democracy.

    BELARUS

    We welcome the renewal of the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus. Given the ongoing human rights crisis in Belarus, the mandate complements the OHCHR Examination in ensuring continuous monitoring of the situation, and the mandate remains an accessible and safe channel for Belarusian civil society to deliver diverse and up-to-date information from within the country.

    CHINA

    The Council has once again failed to respond meaningfully to grave human rights violations committed by Chinese authorities. We reiterate our call on the High Commissioner and member States to take decisive action toward accountability.

    COLOMBIA

    We are disappointed that few States made mention of the use of excessive force against protestors in a context of serious human rights violations, including systemic racism, and urge greater resolve in support of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in the country and globally

    ETHIOPIA

    The resolution on Ethiopia’s Tigray region, albeit modest in its scope and language, ensures much-needed international scrutiny and public discussions on one of Africa’s worst human rights crises. We urge the Ethiopian government to engage ahead of HRC48.

    ERITREA

    We welcome the extension of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea, as scrutiny for violations committed at home and in Tigray is vital.

    NICARAGUA

    We warmly welcome the joint statement delivered by Canada on behalf of 59 States, on harassment and detention of journalists, human rights defenders, and presidential pre-candidates, urging Nicaragua to engage with the international community and take meaningful steps for free and fair elections. States should closely monitor the implementation of resolution 46/2, and send a strong collective message to Nicaragua at the 48th session of the Council, as the Council should ‘urgently consider all measures within its power’ to strengthen human rights protection in the country.

    PALESTINE

    We welcome the Special Rapporteur’s report that “Israeli settlements are the engine of this forever occupation, and amount to a war crime,” emphasizing that settler colonialism infringes on “the right of the indigenous population […] to be free from racial and ethnic discrimination and apartheid.” We also reiterate his recommendation to the High Commissioner “to regularly update the database of businesses involved in settlements, in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 31/36.”

    THE PHILIPPINES

    While acknowledging the signing of the Joint Human Rights Programme with the UN OHCHR, the Government of the Philippines fails to address the long-standing issues on law enforcement and accountability institutions, including in the context of war on drugs. We continue to urge the Council to launch the long-overdue independent and transparent investigation on the on-going human rights violations.

    SYRIA

    We welcome mounting recognition for the need to establish a mechanism to reveal the fate and whereabouts of the missing in Syria, including by UN member states during the interactive dialogue on Syria, and the adoption of the resolution on Syria addressing the issue of the missing and emphasizing the centrality of victim participation, building on the momentum created by the Syrian Charter for Truth and Justice.

    VENEZUELA

    In the context of the recent arbitrary detention of 3 defenders from NGO Fundaredes, we welcome the denunciation by several States of persistent restrictions on civil society and again for visits of Special Rapporteurs to be accepted and accelerated.

    *American Civil Liberties Union, Association for Progressive Communications, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Center for Reproductive Rights, Child Rights Connect, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Conectas Direitos Humanos, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, FIDH, Franciscans International, Human Rights House Foundation, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, International Commission of Jurists, International Lesbian and Gay Association, International Service for Human Rights, US Human Rights Network

    https://ishr.ch/latest-updates/hrc47-civil-society-presents-key-takeaways-from-human-rights-council/

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Marches in Minsk and Pegasus protests: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

    A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Haiti to Pakistan

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Belarus NGOs condemn government crackdown after ‘black week’ of raids

    Human rights groups say latest series of arrests and searches are part of ‘a total purge on civil society’

    The government of Belarus has launched a broad crackdown on civil society, launching raids and arrests on dozens of organisations in what has been described as a “black week” for the country’s NGOs.

    The raids, which began last week, have touched all corners of civil society, from groups that campaign for political prisoners’ rights to those that crowdfund medical care and have helped medics in the fight against coronavirus.

    Related: ‘Persecuted, jailed, destroyed’: Belarus seeks to stifle dissent

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    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Call for the Immediate Release of Human Rights Defender Andrei Aliaksandrau in Belarus

    Thirteen Organisations Call for the Immediate and Unconditional Release of Journalist and Human Rights Defender Andrei Aliaksandrau - Protection

    Image credit: Volha Khvoin / BAJ

    On 2 July 2021, ARTICLE 19 and 12 other media freedom organisations unreservedly condemn the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of human rights defender and journalist Andrei Aliaksandrau, who is now facing up to 15 years in prison on baseless charges of “treason to the state”. See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2021/07/06/anais-marin-un-expert-on-belarus-full-scale-assault-ongoing-against-civil-society/

    Aliaksandrau has long been a defender of freedom of expression in Belarus and beyond, having previously held positions at the Belarusian Association of Journalists, Index on Censorship, and Article 19 among other media and free speech organisations.

    Aliaksandrau was detained in January 2021. The Investigative Committee, Belarus’s criminal investigation service, indicted him on public order offences, for which he was facing up to three years in prison. The charges stem from allegations that Aliaksandrau paid the fines of journalists and protesters whom authorities detained during last year’s pro-democracy protests, triggered by the highly disputed August 2020 presidential election. The Belarusian Investigative Committee and other law enforcement agencies wrongly equated this with financing unlawful protests.

    On 30 June, Belapan reported that Aliaksandrau has now been charged with “treason to the state” based on the same set of allegations. 

    “More than €530,000 worth of fines were imposed on protesters between 9 August and the end of 2020. It is absurd to conflate efforts to help pay those fines with a public order offense, let alone treason,” the organisations said. 

    “Belarusian authorities created a new mark of tyranny by laying treason charges against Aliaksandrou. While we urge the release of all 529 political prisoners currently detained in Belarus, which include at least 15 journalists, we are at this point in time expressing special concern for Aliaksandrau. To date, he is the only detainee facing the fabricated charge of treason.”

    “Aliaksandrau has already spent 172 days in prison for his alleged “crime”. We call for his immediate and unconditional release,” the organisations said.

    Signed by:

    ARTICLE 19

    East European Democratic Centre (EEDC) 

    European Centre for Press and Media Freedom

    European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)

    Free Press Unlimited (FPU)

    Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF)

    Human Rights Watch

    IFEX

    Index on Censorship

    International Media Support (IMS)

    PEN America 

    Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

    South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)

    https://www.article19.org/resources/call-for-release-of-andrei-aliaksandrau/

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • The 3 human rights lawyers shortlisted for the L4L award

    Lawyers from Myanmar and Belarus, and a lawyers’ collective from Algeria are shortlisted as finalists for the 2021 Lawyers for Lawyers Award. The 2021 Award will be presented to the laureate during a seminar hosted by Lawyers for Lawyers and the Amsterdam Bar Association in Amsterdam on 18 November 2021. The ceremony will also be live-streamed.

    For more on the Lawyers for Lawyers Award and other awards for lawyers see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/B40861B3-0BE3-4CAF-A417-BC4F976E9CB0 .

    The expert jury selected U Khing Maung Zaw from Myanmar, the Collective for the Defence of Hirak Detainees from Algeria and Maksim Znak and Liudmila Kazak from Belarus as finalists for the Award. The laureate of the Award will be announced later this year.

    About the finalists

    • In Myanmar, U Khing Maung Zaw has courageously upheld the rule of law for more than five decades. He is currently representing leaders of the recently deposed Myanmar government and a number of other persons who have been arbitrarily detained on politically motivated criminal charges associated with the military coup in Myanmar beginning 1 February 2021. In this context of repression and danger, U Khin Maung Zaw remains committed to representing his clients.
    • Since February 2019, grassroots peaceful protests (the “Hirak”) have called for genuine democratic reform and rule of law in Algeria. In response, the government launched a campaign of arrests and judicial harassment against all those associated with this movement. The Collective for the Defence of Hirak Detainees, formed in July 2019 after the first wave of arrests, voluntarily and tirelessly defends those arbitrarily prosecuted, especially from marginalised backgrounds who cannot afford legal support.
    • In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, lawyers working on politically sensitive cases or cases of human rights violations were subjected to pressure, harassment and intimidation in connection to their professional activities. Maksim Znak and Liudmila Kazak represented human rights defenders and opposition leaders, and are paying a high price for their work. On 9 September 2020, Maksim Znak was taken into custody and is still being detained. On 19 February 2021, Liudmila Kazak was disbarred.
    Lawyers from Algeria, Belarus and Myanmar shortlisted for the 2021 Award

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Anaïs Marin – UN Expert on Belarus: “Full-scale assault” ongoing against civil society

    Protestors at the March of Peace and Independence in Minsk, Belarus (file photo).

    Unsplash/Andrew KeymasterProtestors at the March of Peace and Independence in Minsk, Belarus (file photo). 5 July 2021

    Belarus has witnessed an unprecedented human rights crisis over the past year, the independent expert appointed to monitor the country said on Monday 5 July 2021, calling on authorities to immediately end their policy of repression and fully respect the legitimate aspirations of their people.

    Belarus has witnessed an unprecedented human rights crisis over the past year, the independent expert appointed to monitor the country said on Monday, calling on authorities to immediately end their policy of repression and fully respect the legitimate aspirations of their people.

    In her annual report to the Human Rights Council, Anaïs Marin said she had received reports of massive police violence used against protesters – since last August’s disputed presidential election brought millions onto the streets to contest the result – cases of enforced disappearance, allegations of torture and ill-treatment and the continuous intimidation and harassment of civil society actors.

    Broad spectrum of abuses

    “The Belarusian authorities have launched a full-scale assault against civil society, curtailing a broad spectrum of rights and freedoms, targeting people from all walks of life, while systematically persecuting human rights defenders, journalists, media workers and lawyers in particular,” Ms. Marin told the Council.

    “The crackdown is such that thousands of Belarusians have been forced or otherwise compelled to leave their homeland and seek safety abroad; yet the downing of a civilian plane in Minsk on 23 May, for the apparent sole purpose of arresting a dissident who was on board, signaled that no opponent to the current Government is safe anywhere”, the expert added.

    She noted that the significant deterioration of the human rights situation in Belarus started in late spring 2020 and climaxed in the aftermath of the presidential election of 9 August, the results of which were widely contested.

    Malpractices were reported during the election campaign, as most opposition candidates were forced out of the race, while the vote count was marred by allegations of fraud.

    Unjustified and disproportionate

    “Distrust in the legitimacy of the electoral outcome triggered spontaneous and largely peaceful popular protests to which the authorities responded with unjustified, disproportionate and often arbitrary force”, said the Special Rapporteur, who reminded that over 35,000 people have been detained since then for trying to exert their right to freedom of peaceful assembly, including women and children arrested for peacefully demonstrating solidarity with victims of police violence.

    “Since August 2020 I received innumerable allegations of beatings and ill-treatment, including torture in detention, but also allegations of rapes, enforced disappearances and even killings – all remain to be investigated.”

    She said she was also alarmed by the hundreds of cases of criminal prosecution of human rights defenders and lawyers, journalists and medical staff, which have taken place, simply for doing their job.

    Abusers protected

    “As the legal and judicial systems in Belarus protect the perpetrators of grave human rights violations, continuing impunity means that there is no guarantee of non-reoccurrence,” Ms. Marin said. “Hence the international community should keep on demanding the release and rehabilitation of all those still detained on political grounds, and support initiatives aiming at bringing perpetrators of the most serious crimes to account”.

    The UN expert also expressed concerns about the impact the ongoing crackdown has had on the right to education, pointing to discriminatory measures that persist in Belarus against people with disabilities, ethno-linguistic minorities, people living in rural areas and those deprived of liberty.

    ‘Disastrous consequences’

    “I call on the Belarusian authorities to put an end to their policy of repression, to immediately and unconditionally release those arbitrarily detained, and to ensure full respect for the human rights and legitimate democratic aspirations of people in Belarus”, the UN expert said, warning that a further aggravation of the human rights crisis and international self-isolation could have disastrous consequences for the whole country.

    See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2021/06/28/fidh-launches-website-tracking-systematic-human-rights-violations-in-belarus/

    https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/07/1095302

    Belarus: Massive human rights violations unprecedented in scope and gravity, says UN expert

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • The West’s Audacity of Sanctioning: The Latest Case is Belarus

    On 23 May 2021 President Lukashenko ordered the Ryanair plane, flying from Athens to Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, carrying his Nazi-schooled threatening opponent and activist Protasevich and his girlfriend, to be diverted to Minsk. He did so after having received a message of a bomb threat on board the plane from the Swiss e-mail provider Proton Mail. Proton later said the message was sent after the plane was already diverted.  Whom to believe? If Proton Mail is right, why then send a message in the first place?  Neutral Switzerland is again caught red-handed – and red-faced.

    The opposition activist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, were immediately arrested upon landing in Minsk and are now jailed, awaiting judgment and/or extradition to Ukraine, where Protasevich is accused of having participated fighting in Kiev’s neo-Nazi battalion against Donbass.

    As reported by RT, authorities of the self-proclaimed Lugansk Republic (LNR) have accused Roman Protasevich of being part of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion. The LNR is an unrecognized state located in Ukraine and has existed since the 2014 western prompted “civil war” in Donbass, when separatists unilaterally declared independence from Kiev. The Azov Battalion is an ultra-right-wing military unit now incorporated into the National Guard of Kiev-Ukraine.

    RT states that Azov fought during the height of the Donbass war, first seeing action at the Battle of Mariupol. The group is heavily linked to neo-Nazi ideology, with the regiment’s logo featuring the Wolfsangel, a symbol of many divisions of the Nazi German Army during World War II. Joining the Azov Battalion is illegal in Donbass, as well as in Belarus.

    An LNR Prosecutor says there is evidence that Protasevich has fought in the Donbass war on the side of Kiev. See here.

    Given the tense circumstances — call them western aggressions — after President Lukashenko’s landslide reelection, there may be good justification for Lukashenko to arrest his archenemy, Protasevich, whose unpredictability – and especially, his most likely following orders from the west, predominantly the US and its EU “compradores” – might be a threat to Lukashenko’s life.

    The arrest of Protasevich is the official reason for predominantly the US, followed by the vassalic Europeans, to initiate a series of “sanctions” against the Lukashenko Government and Belarus. Sanctions include travel bans for prominent people, the freezing of Belarusian state assets and Belarusian private assets in the US and EU and in the west in general. For those who don’t know, this is only possible because the western dollar-based economy is totally controlled by US/Wall Street banks. Any western currency transaction flows automatically through a US bank – mostly through the SWIFT system – thus, can be interrupted and confiscated at any time by Washington orders.

    The point is, the west – again especially the US – wants to get rid of Lukashenko, a close Kremlin ally. They want to replace Lukashenko by a friend of the west, so as to be free to advance with NATO into Belarus, a step closer to Moscow’s doorstep. Belarus is extremely important for Russia, not only as buffer zone, but more so because of Russia’s two key military bases in Belarus. The importance of Belarus to Russia is about equivalent to the importance of Crimea and particularly Sebastopol for Moscow.

    NATO aggression — that’s the key reason. The west couldn’t care less about human rights, the reason they bring forward for the sanctions. The west has never cared – and under the current constellation will never care – for human rights. In fact, the west is the world’s biggest and most brutal offender of both civil and human rights. And this doesn’t even take into account the western instigated worldwide covid drama – decimating world population, as well as the world economy.

    Just imagine the reverse, a ferocious eastern enemy of the Biden Administration, on a plane approaching the US, but destined to a neighboring country, say Nicaragua or Mexico, or, god-forbid, Cuba – with threats to harm President Biden or people of his entourage. The US would just let it go? I don’t think so. If Washington had a chance to bring the threatening eastern enemy onto US soil and arrest him, they would do so.

    Would the east, and I mean the entire eastern alliance of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) – about the equivalent of the western alliance – start sanctioning the US, foremost the US President and his close support group; the European Union, putting up travel bans for political leaders and high officials of the US/EU Administrations – plus a myriad of economic sanctions; i.e., interrupting the eastern supply chain for western consumer goods, but foremost, for eastern (mostly Chinese) produced pharmaceuticals on which the west heavily depends?

    Have eastern countries ever sanctioned the west? Never, as far as my history books say, and they were all edited and printed in the west. It’s not part of the eastern cultural and ethical standards punishing other countries – even their western self-proclaimed enemies – to punish them for their autonomous and sovereign independent behavior. China, Russia, Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea – to name just a few – might not like what is done to them by the west, but “sanctioning” an autonomous sovereign nation, for example, by cutting off their energy supply is not in the cards for the east.

    Is it surprising that the east is increasingly going its own way – a way offering incorporation for those who want a peaceful social and economic development, but no longer a way of dependence and obedience to Washington and western puppets?  Sorry to call the European “puppets” of the Washington empire. They may be the “parents” – the parent empire – of today’s US-empire, but that they follow in their offspring’s criminal footstep is not a feast of honor, or of inspiring respect.

    Back to Belarus. Lukashenko has done what he had to do to protect the integrity of his country and government – and viewing ahead with a looking glass – to protect their ally Russia from another NATO step closer to Moscow. And so did President Putin, when he had his arch-enemy and traitor, Alexei Navalny, arrested; Navalny, who claimed the nonsensical, having been poisoned by Russia – when the very Russian authorities let him go to the west, Berlin as it were, to receive medical treatment against his “poison”. A huge western anti-Russia propaganda ensued.

    Did Russia sanction Germany, the EU or the US for these abject lies?

    There seems to be no limit – on any subject, on any issue – to western lies and manipulation of the truth. At least until now. This may change as more people are waking up, seeing ever clearer through the thinning sham of veil. It also seems that the west doesn’t realize that their very empire is committing suicide by this eternal regime of “sanctioning” whomever doesn’t dance according to their flute. Former or potential allies are driven away into the more peaceful camp of eastern respect for the sovereignty of their allies.

    The post The West’s Audacity of Sanctioning: The Latest Case is Belarus first appeared on Dissident Voice.


    This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Peter Koenig.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • FIDH Launches Website Tracking Systematic Human Rights Violations in Belarus

    SIARHEI LESKIEC / AFP

    On 25 June 2021 the FIDH issued a press release announcing a new website on Belarus. Since May 2020, the administration of Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the de facto president of Belarus, has intensified repression, aiming to crush the country’s democratic movement. A new website launched by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) tracks, compiles, and presents detailed information on the human rights situation in the country, including on political prisoners, violations against vulnerable groups, and efforts to advance accountability for the regime’s crimes.

    FIDH and its member organisation in Belarus, Viasna Human Rights Center, have been closely monitoring and documenting the human rights situation in Belarus over the past year. The website launched today is intended as a comprehensive resource compiling up-to-date data and statistics, and offering analysis and insight into violations, including from our local partners such as Viasna. The website tracks and provides detailed information on political prisoners—particularly human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, and other human rights defenders, describes violations against vulnerable groups currently imprisoned by the regime—and details ongoing efforts to further accountability for the regime’s crimes.

    The website has four main sections, updated daily, reflecting the most recent developments in four key areas: monitoring events and reactions, exposing crimes and furthering justice, defending human rights activists, and supporting vulnerable groups.

    Monitoring events and reactions

    On Monday, the EU approved new sanctions against 78 individuals and eight companies believed to support the crackdowns on the democratic movement and the forced landing of Ryanair flight with Raman Pratasevich on board late last month. The same day, the UK, Canada, and the US joined this initiative and introduced new sanctions. At the European Council yesterday, the EU also approved economic sanctions against parts of Belarus’ potash, oil, and tobacco exports, as well as telecommunication and banking sectors. We are monitoring this situation and will publish updates as soon as further information is available.

    Exposing crimes and furthering justice

    On 19 June, the law “On Amendments to the Laws on Ensuring the National Security of the Republic of Belarus” came into force. Among other provisions, it grants law enforcement the right to use military and special equipment to suppress riots and stipulates that officers not be liable for harm caused as a result of the use of force and weapons. This is one of a series of recent laws—including one that expands the definition of extremism—that threaten protesters’ lives and liberties, under the guise of ensuring public order and national security, and that violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. FIDH, which is on the Advisory Council of the International Accountability Platform for Belarus, regularly issues statements analysing such laws, as well as communications to the UN Special Procedures, in order to further justice in the country.

    Defending human rights activists

    Many human rights defenders (HRDs) in Belarus face persecution due to their professional activity. To date, at least 21 of them have been charged with supposed crimes in an attempt to thwart their human rights activities. Most recently, on 18 June, lawyer Andrei Machalau, who was a defense attorney in many criminal cases against protests activists and HRDs, including TUT.by journalist Katsiaryna Barysevich, was disbarred for alleged violation of professional ethics. Machalau is one of at least 17 lawyers whose licenses have been revoked since May 2020. We endeavour to defend each and every one of them and gather the available information in a dedicated section of our website.

    Supporting vulnerable groups

    The current regime demonstrates a blatant disregard for human rights of children, women, pensioners, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups. Despite the overwhelmingly peaceful nature of the protest movement, hundreds of representatives of these groups have been detained, and sometimes beaten, for simply displaying the white-red-white flag: the main symbol of the democratic movement. On Monday, the Belarusian Ministry of Interior proposed that the KGB add the white-red-white flag and slogan Zhyve Belarus (Long live Belarus) to the list of banned Nazi symbols. Should this initiative be approved, public use of such symbols could lead to administrative or even criminal liability—potentially devastating news for many minors, women, and other Belarusians who have galvanised the protest movement using these symbols. We will be following the situation and supporting those who may suffer restrictions on freedom of speech due to this and other legislation.

    https://www.fidh.org/en/region/europe-central-asia/belarus/mobilising-for-justice-in-belarus-fidh-launches-website-tracking

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Evidence shows US plotted coup in Belarus

    Belarus’ defense minister says there is “irrefutable” evidence of the involvement of the United States in a coup attempt in the European country.

    The post Evidence shows US plotted coup in Belarus appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • CPJ announces 2021 International Press Freedom awardees

    New York, June 15, 2021–The Committee to Protect Journalists will honor four courageous journalists from Belarus, Guatemala, Mozambique, and Myanmar with the 2021 International Press Freedom Awards. All four have reported during a historically turbulent time, covering protests and political upheaval in their countries.

    “In the midst of a battle over the control of information, these journalists are on the side of the people, covering events, informing communities, and ensuring accountability,” said Joel Simon, CPJ executive director. “They have paid a price, confronting violence, harassment, repression, and persecution but refusing to back down. We honor their commitment and sacrifice and look forward to celebrating their courage, alongside all those who stand firm for press freedom and independent journalism.”

    CPJ’s 2021 awardees are: 

    Katsiaryna Barysevich (Belarus): Barysevich is a staff correspondent for the influential Belarusian news outlet Tut.by, where she covers legal and social issues. In 2020, Barysevich was reporting on pro-democracy protests in the country and published a story about a protester allegedly killed by law enforcement, contradicting authorities’ official statements. As a result, she spent six months behind bars and faced fines. Her colleagues at Tut.by continue to face detentions and harassment.

    Anastasia Mejía (Guatemala): Mejía is a radio journalist based in Joyabaj, a town in the central Guatemalan department of Quiché. She co-founded Xolabaj Radio and Xolabaj TV to cover issues of importance for the local community, particularly topics of concern to Indigenous women. In September 2020, police arrested Mejía on criminal charges connected to her coverage of local demonstrations, and she was held in pretrial detention for five weeks before being released on house arrest. Today, her journalistic work is severely restricted. 

    Matías Guente (Mozambique): Guente is the executive editor of Canal de Moçambique, an independent weekly investigative newspaper, and its daily digital publication CanalMoz. Over the years, he has faced a myriad of threats for his hard-hitting reporting, including police interrogations, charges of violation of state secrecy and conspiracy against the state, and an attempted kidnapping in 2019. In 2020, unidentified individuals set the outlet’s offices ablaze. 

    Aye Chan Naing (Myanmar): Aye Chan Naing is co-founder, chief editor, and executive director of the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), an independent broadcast media group in Myanmar. As a pioneer in Myanmar’s exile media movement starting in the 1990s, he led DVB’s transition from exile-based to in-country operations in 2012, despite continued harassment from the government. In 2021, multiple DVB journalists were arrested or detained amid a harsh crackdown on media and civil society following the military junta’s takeover in February.

    The winners will be honored on November 18, 2021, at CPJ’s annual awards ceremony, to be chaired this year by Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, and hosted by ABC “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir. Due to health and safety considerations related to COVID-19, this year’s gala will be a hybrid virtual and in-person event.

    Learn more about this year’s event and our awardees at ipfa.cpj.org. For more information on the gala, call Buckley Hall Events at (914) 579-1000 or CPJ’s development office at (212) 300-9021, or email CPJipfa@buckleyhallevents.com. 

    Note to Editors:

    CPJ International Press Freedom Award winners are available for interviews upon request, prior to the awards on November 18, 2021. For information on media partnerships for the awards, please contact press@cpj.org.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Belarus Concerned Over NATO’s Threatening Statements

    Yesterday the foreign minister of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, expressed alarm over recent statements by NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about his nation, ones that were openly hostile and implicitly threatening. He’s quoted by the Belarusian Telegraph Agency voicing these concerns:

    “We are absolutely concerned over these recent statements by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Just a few days ago, he expressed concern over deeper ties between Minsk and Moscow, saying that they see it as a threat to the alliance’s eastern flank. They are also concerned about closer cooperation between Moscow and Beijing. They also see it as a threat.”Yesterday the foreign minister of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, expressed alarm over recent statements by NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about his nation, ones that were openly hostile and implicitly threatening. He’s quoted by the Belarusian Telegraph Agency voicing these concerns:

    The post Belarus Concerned Over NATO’s Threatening Statements appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • CPJ to brief media on press freedom in Belarus

    New York, June 7, 2021–The crackdown on press freedom in Belarus has dominated headlines in recent weeks following the shocking detention of Belarusian journalist Raman Pratasevich. But stepped-up repression and censorship of local media intended to eliminate critical and independent reporting—including arrests, legal restrictions, and internet disruptions—has been ongoing for nearly a year. 

    Ahead of the Biden-Putin summit this month, and as world leaders weigh their response to Belarus, this on-the-record media briefing will provide expert analysis of the press freedom situation in Belarus, along with recommendations on ways to protect individual journalists and halt the government’s attacks on the press.

    WHAT: Committee to Protect Journalists press briefing on Belarus with Gulnoza Said, CPJ Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, and Volha Siakhovich, a legal expert with the Belarusian Association of Journalists

    WHEN: Wednesday, June 9, 10:00 a.m. EDT / 16:00 p.m. CET

    WHERE: RSVP for Zoom link

    Journalists interested in attending the briefing can register here and call-in details will be provided upon registration. Those interested in submitting questions ahead of time should contact press@cpj.org. Explore CPJ’s reporting on press freedom in Belarus here.

    Media contact:

    Bebe Santa-Wood

    Communications Associate

    press@cpj.org


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Roman Protasevich, Casualty Of The Ryanair Incident In Belarus, Is Spilling The Beans

    ‘Western’ media, as well as other regime change activist claim that Protasevich must have been tortured to say what he says. However, aside from light handcuff marks at his wrists there is no evidence of that. Protasevich had previously been wounded when he fought in the fascist Ukrainian Azov battalion against the Donbas secessionists. He is a tough guy who will not be impressed by handcuffs which, by the way, police everywhere use for good reasons.

    The post Roman Protasevich, Casualty Of The Ryanair Incident In Belarus, Is Spilling The Beans appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Myanmar school strikes and a plane diverted to Minsk: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

    A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Colombia to China

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Detained Belarusian dissident says he was set up by an associate

    A dissident journalist arrested when Belarus diverted his flight has said in a video from prison that he was set up by an unidentified associate. The footage of Roman Protasevich was part of an hour-long documentary aired late on Wednesday by the state-controlled ONT channel.

    In the film, the 26-year-old is also shown saying that protests against Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko are now pointless amid a tough crackdown, and suggesting the opposition wait for a more opportune moment. The film claimed Belarusian authorities were unaware Protasevich was on board the Ryanair jet en route from Athens to Vilnius when flight controllers diverted it to Minsk on May 23 citing a bomb threat.

    Belarus Dissident Journalist
    The Ryanair jet on the tarmac at Minsk (Mindaugas Kulbis/AP)

    The EU response

    No bomb was found after the landing, but Protasevich was arrested along with his Russian girlfriend. The flight’s diversion outraged the European Union, which responded by barring the Belarusian flag carrier from its skies, told European airlines to skirt Belarus and drafted new sanctions against key sectors of the Belarusian economy.

    Lukashenko’s rule

    Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet nation of 9.3 million for more than a quarter of a century, has accused the West of trying to “strangle” his country with sanctions.

    Belarus has been rocked by months of protests fuelled by his re-election to a sixth term in an August 2020 vote that was widely seen as rigged. Lukashenko has only increased the crackdown, and more than 35,000 people have been arrested since the protests began, with thousands beaten.

    Alexander Lukashenko
    Alexander Lukashenko (Sergei Shelega/BelTA Pool Photo/AP)

    “Bloody rebellion”

    Protasevich, who left Belarus in 2019, has become a leading critic of Lukashenko. He ran a popular channel on the Telegram messaging app that played a key role in organising the huge anti-government protests and was charged with inciting mass disturbances — accusations that carry a 15-year prison sentence.

    Lukashenko last week accused him of fomenting a “bloody rebellion” and defended the flight diversion as a legitimate response to a bomb threat. The ONT documentary appeared to be intended to back that contention by claiming Belarusian authorities were unaware Protasevich was on the plane when they diverted it.

    Set up?

    In the video, the journalist alleged that the bomb threat could have been issued by someone with whom he had a personal conflict. He said the perceived ill-wisher – who he did not name – had links with opposition-minded hackers who have attacked Belarusian official websites and issued bomb threats in the past.

    Protasevich said:

    When the plane was on a landing path, I realised that it’s useless to panic,

    Once the plane taxied to a parking spot, he described seeing heavily armed special forces waiting. It was a dedicated Swat unit — uniforms, flak jackets and weapons,

    A day after his arrest, Protasevich appeared in a video from detention that was broadcast on Belarusian state TV. Speaking rapidly and in a monotone, he said he was confessing to staging mass disturbances. His parents, who now live in Poland, said the confession seemed to be coerced.

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on The Canary.

  • Edward Snowden calls out the US and its allies’ hypocrisy in condemning Belarus

    Earlier in May, exiled whistle blower Edward Snowden compared Belarus’s downing of a plane to a US-style “extraordinary rendition“. Once the plane had landed in Minsk, journalist Roman Protasevich was seized and detained, along with his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.

    Indeed, the hijacking, undertaken on the orders of the country’s dictator Alexander Lukashenko, should be deplored. However, evidence has emerged suggesting Protasevich’s politics are not all they seem.

    Extraordinary rendition

    Snowden argues that the downing of the Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania by the Belarusian authorities is a modern expression of Bush-era “extraordinary rendition”:

    Extraordinary rendition is defined as “The extra-judicial transfer of persons from one jurisdiction or state to another…”. Though perhaps that definition needs expanding to include the capture of someone for political purposes and/or travelling from one third party country to another.

    UK hypocrisy

    The UK government’s condemnation of the downing of the Ryanair flight is sheer hypocrisy. For the UK is an expert practitioner of rendition.

    Indeed, a 2007 European Parliament report stated it had:

    serious concern about the 170 stopovers made by CIA-operated aircraft at UK airports, which on many occasions came from or were bound for countries linked with extraordinary rendition circuits and the transfer of detainees

    And the Rendition Project published a list of 391 alleged rendition flights via the UK or its overseas territories or Crown Dependencies.

    As The Canary previously reported, MI6 also played a pivotal role in the extraordinary rendition of then Libyan opposition leader Abdel Hakim Belhaj. Belhaj was kidnapped by the US and flown to Tripoli. There he was tortured by Libyan intelligence. Several incriminating documents retrieved by Human Rights Watch showed the extent to which MI6 head Mark Allen personally assisted the Libyan authorities in the matter.

    It’s further known that the CIA used Diego Garcia, a British Overseas Territory, as part of its rendition programme. In February 2008, foreign secretary David Miliband admitted two rendition flights stopped over in Diego Garcia, each carrying a detainee.

    Same fate

    The EU can also be accused of hypocrisy in its condemnation of Belarus’s downing of the Ryanair flight.

    On 3 July 2013, a private plane carrying Bolivian president Evo Morales from Moscow was refused permission to land in or fly over Portugal, France and Italy. Instead, with reportedly little fuel left, it had to fly on to Vienna. Had the Austrian authorities also refused the plane to land, it’s possible it might have crashed.

    So why did this happen? It’s because Snowdon was believed to have been on board the plane. Though as it turns out, Snowden was still in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport at the time.

    Journalist Glenn Greenwald commented:

    The only reason Snowden did not suffer the same fate that day as the one Protasevich suffered on Sunday is because he happened not to be on the targeted plane that was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Vienna.

    He added:

    If it is outrageously dangerous and criminal to force the downing of a plane to arrest the passenger Roman Protasevich, then it must be equally dangerous and criminal to do the same in an attempt to arrest suspected passenger Edward Snowden.

    More hypocrisy

    In the aftermath of the action by those EU countries, Bolivian ambassador to the UN Sacha Llorenti claimed that Morales had been “kidnapped”:

    Llorenti also argued that the ‘blockade’ and subsequent search of the aircraft “violated international law”.

    Bolivian defence minister Ruben Saavedra believed the US was behind it all, commenting:

    This is a hostile act by the United States state department which has used various European governments.

    Hence, the US can also be accused of hypocrisy in its condemnation of Belarus’s actions:

    Far right claims

    Meanwhile, questions have been raised about Protasevich’s political background.

    The Grayzone’s Ben Norton has described Protasevich as a “literal fascist”:

    Canadian academic Ivan Katchanovski added that according to Ukrainian media, Protasevich “served in the press-service of the neo-Nazi-led Azov battalion”.

    The Azov Battalion is reportedly a:

    far-right neo-Nazi all-volunteer infantry military unit forming part of military reserve of National Guard of Ukraine.

    openDemocracy states that the Battalion was

    formed by members of two neo-Nazi groups, Patriot of Ukraine and the Social-National Assembly.

    At the time, these groups worked as part of Right Sector, the far-right activist group that came together during Maidan and which later also turned into a paramilitary organisation. 

    Norton has provided extensive research regarding Protasevich’s links to the far-right and the Azov Battalion in particular.

    Double standards

    Meanwhile, Julian Assange, who published Snowden’s leaks, remains locked up in Belmarsh prison. He’s been there since the UK authorities kidnapped him from the Ecuadorean embassy in London. It’s over three months since the US lodged an appeal against a court ruling that Assange should not be deported.

    Against the backdrop of Assange and Snowden, EU, UK and US outrage at Belarus looks farcical. It can only be seen as credible if current proceedings against Assange are dropped and Snowden is pardoned.

    Featured image via YouTube/BBC News

    By Tom Coburg

    This post was originally published on The Canary.

  • From Minsk to Hong Kong, people power just isn’t working any more | Will Hutton

    Last week’s detention of an activist in Belarus is only the latest of many signals that we must relearn how to defend our values

    The west’s ineffectiveness in the face of the arrant use of torture, unlawful arrest, savage imprisonment without trial and flagrant abuse of international law, even close to home in Europe, is among the bleakest symptoms of our times. The people power we saw embodied in the strikes in the Gdańsk shipyards, the fall of the Berlin Wall and even the Arab spring has not presaged the new era of democracy we once hoped for. Instead, the 21st century is becoming defined as a new era of agile autocracy and vicious strong-man rule.

    As the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, prepared the UK’s response to last Sunday’s forced landing of a Ryanair jet by a Belarusian MiG-29 over its airspace to secure the trumped-up detention of a well-known democracy activist, Roman Protasevich, it must have crossed his mind that Britain’s response would have been so much stronger within the EU. The UK is now a little Sir Echo, weakening the west. It is part of the reason why Belarus’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, can act with impunity, as he refuses to acknowledge his loss of last’s August presidential election.

    Too many western companies and governments, wanting export orders, collude with controlling one-party states

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • US-funded Belarusian regime-change activist arrested on plane joined neo-Nazis in Ukraine

    Belarusian regime-change activist Roman Protasevich, whose arrest on a grounded plane caused a global scandal, joined Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov Battalion and was cultivated by the US government’s media apparatus.

    The post US-funded Belarusian regime-change activist arrested on plane joined neo-Nazis in Ukraine appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • It’s not just Belarus. The world is becoming a hostile place for journalists.

    On 23 May, a Ryanair plane was forced to land before it could reach its destination. Instead of coming down in Lithuania as intended, the plane was told it must perform an emergency landing in Minsk due to a suspected security threat.

    When the plane landed in Belarus, police instead detained one of the passengers. Roman Protasevich, a blogger who has criticised the authoritarian regime of president Alexander Lukashenko, was taken into custody in Belarus.

    He reportedly told another passenger before he was arrested:

    I’m facing the death penalty here.

    His whereabouts are now unknown.

    In more than a year of coronavirus cover-ups and political unrest, these kinds of arrests of journalists are beginning more common – not just in Belarus, but across the world.

    “Reprehensible act of state terrorism”

    The plane was apparently only two minutes from Lithuanian airspace when it was hijacked. According to the government press service, Lukashenko gave the order to divert the plane, escorted by a scrambled military jet.

    Belarus has accused Protasevich of ‘inciting social hatred and organising mass riots’. He was a former editor on Poland-based Telegram channels Nexta and Nexta Live, which covered the anti-Lukashenko protests last year.

    Protasevich denies the charges, which could see him face up to 15 years in prison.

    His arrest has been widely condemned by Europe and the US, some calling it an act of “state terror”. The US and EU demanded Protasevich’s immediate release. Leaders have asked for a full investigation and have banned flights over Belarus.

    “An attack on democracy”

    Protasevich isn’t the first journalist to be imprisoned by the Lukashenka regime.

    In August 2020, Alexander Lukashenko won the election that gave him a sixth term. Many said the election was fraudulent, and it sparked mass protests across the country.

    Authority forces detained many journalists during the protests. Some were fined. Others faced more serious charges. As of December 2020, at least 10 journalists were imprisoned in Belarus.

    This has continued into 2021, with at least 16 journalists detained in a short period at the end of March.

    Chair of the foreign affairs select committee, Tom Tugendhat, said:

    This isn’t just a story about Belarus or one journalist. It’s a direct assault on the liberties of all of us. If aircraft can be forced to the ground, if aircraft can be diverted from their course in order to punish the political opponents of tyrants, then journalists here in the UK, politicians anywhere in Europe, will find it harder to speak out. …

    This is a direct assault on all of us. An attack on democracy and freedom of speech.

    An increasingly hostile environment

    Indeed, this has in no way been limited to Belarus. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 2020 was a record year in terms of the number of journalists imprisoned across the world.

    The committee found that  274 journalists were in jail in December 2020. The worst offenders were China, Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, though the number of journalists imprisoned has risen significantly in both Belarus and Ethiopia.

    It attributes the increase in arrests, in part, to governments trying to cover up reporting of the pandemic and opposition to political unrest.

    Even in the US – CPJ found no journalists imprisoned in December 2020, but 110 had been arrested of criminally charged. Around 300 had been assaulted.

    In December 2020, CPJ executive director Joel Simon, said:

    It’s shocking and appalling that we are seeing a record number of journalists imprisoned in the midst of a global pandemic. This wave of repression is a form of censorship that is disrupting the flow of information and fuelling the infodemic. With COVID 19 raging through the world’s prison, it’s also putting the lives of journalists at risk.

    Journalists murdered

    2020 also saw the killing of at least 30 journalists. 21 of these were specifically murdered in response to their reporting – double the 10 who were murdered in 2019.

    At the time of reporting, CPJ were still investigating the deaths of 15 more journalists.

    Members of the press are no safer in 2021; five journalists have already been killed. CPJ designated four of these deaths as murder.

    Simon added:

    It’s appalling that the murders of journalists have more than doubled in the last year, and this escalation represents a failure of the international community to confront the scourge of impunity.

    He further argued:

    The fact that murder is on the rise and the number of journalists imprisoned around the world hit a record is a clear demonstration that press freedom is under unprecedented assault in the midst of a global pandemic, in which information is essential. We must come together to reverse this terrible trend.

    Featured image via YouTube/BBC News 

    By Jasmine Norden

    This post was originally published on The Canary.

  • Gaza damage and Glasgow raids: human rights this fortnight in pictures

    A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Peru

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Viasna staff win People in Need’s Homo Homini Award 2021

    On 11 May 2021 Czech Radio announced that the annual One World festival of human rights documentary films got underway on Monday evening under the motto Connection Lost. The festival, which has moved entirely online due to Covid-19 restrictions, started by presenting its annual Homo Homini prize for human rights advocacy.

    During the virtual opening ceremony on Monday evening, the People in Need foundation presented this year’s Homo Homini prize to four members of the Belarusian human rights organization Viasna, who have been persecuted for tracking detained protestors, documenting human rights violations and helping victims of police violence.

    Despite having committed no crime, they were detained and face up to 12 years in prison. Prague mayor Zdeněk Hřib presented the award to Nathalia Satsunkevich, their colleague from Viasna. Zdeněk Hřib, Nathalia Satsunkevich. See: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/7b5ccf60-bf81-11ea-b6a7-3533a3c74ec1

    For the first time in the 25-year history of Homo Homini Award, it was presented to the same organization. People in Need director Šimon Pánek explained the decision to Czech Television: “15 years ago Ales Bialatski, founder of Viasna, received the Homo Homini Award. He saw what was happening at the time and put together a group of people to defend the rights of detainees. In the end, he himself ended up in prison.

    “He was presented the award by Václav Havel, who said he hoped Belarus would live to see its 1989, but unfortunately, it hasn’t happened yet.

    “For a while it looked as if Belarus has resigned, but the new generation of young people have not accepted the situation and despite the brutality of the regime, they have repeatedly taken to the streets.”

    The festival was launched with the screening of the Belarusian documentary film Courage, about an underground theatre group The Belarus Free Theatre, which has been criticising the practices of Lukashenko’s authoritarian regime for the past 14 years. See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/04/12/havel-prize-for-creative-dissent-2018-two-of-three-winners-announced-today/

    The festival, which runs until May 19, will present over a hundred films in 15 thematic categories, the main one focusing on technology and its impact both on the society and individuals. Some of the screenings will also be accompanied by live discussions as part of the One World Live Programme.

    https://english.radio.cz/detained-belarussian-activists-win-people-needs-homo-homini-award-8717241

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Belarusian Runner Makes GPS Protest Art ‘That Can’t Be Destroyed’

    Using fields as his canvas, Belarusian runner Vadzim Simanau creates virtual pictures with a GPS tracker to support anti-government protesters. When police cracked down on demonstrators, Simanau said he decided to create protest signs “that can’t be destroyed.”

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Lukashenka Signs Contingency Decree On Presidential Powers

    Belarus’s authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka has signed a decree allowing the transfer of presidential powers to the country’s Security Council if he is killed or otherwise unable to perform his duties.

    Many governments already consider Lukashenka’s claim to the presidency illegitimate since a disputed reelection in August 2020 and a brutal ongoing crackdown against opposition protests.

    Previously, if the president’s position became vacant, or he was unable to fulfil his duties, power would be transferred to the prime minister until a new president took oath.

    But the decree, signed on May 9, stipulates that power would be vested in the Security Council, which would be chaired by the prime minister.

    The Security Council is made up of handpicked Lukashenka backers.

    Lukashenka said in April he would sign a contingency decree on presidential powers.

    “Tell me, if there is no president tomorrow, would you guarantee everything is going to be fine? No,” he told reporters on April 24, according to the state news agency Belta.

    “I will sign a decree about how power in Belarus will be set up. If the president is shot, the next day the Security Council will get the power,” Lukashenka said.

    With reporting by Reuters

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Lukashenka Downplays Criminal Case Launched Against Him By Group In Germany

    MINSK — Belarus’s authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka has downplayed a criminal complaint filed in Germany on behalf of 10 Belarusians alleging that the strongman has committed crimes against humanity.

    Speaking two days before Belarus commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany, Lukashenka referred on May 7 to the German lawyers who filed the case as the “heirs of fascism” and said they were in no position to judge him.

    The lawyers said on May 5 that, on behalf of “torture victims,” they had submitted a complaint to federal prosecutors in the German city of Karlsruhe against Lukashenka “and other Belarusian security officers.”

    “Who are they to judge me? For protecting you and my country? I do not reproach them. But they are the heirs of the generations who unleashed that war,” he was quoted by the official BelTA news agency as saying.

    The 66-year-old Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994, was officially declared the winner by a landslide of a disputed presidential election in August 2020. This triggered almost daily protests demanding that the longtime strongman step down and new elections be held.

    The opposition says the vote was rigged, and the West has refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate leader of Belarus.

    Security officials have cracked down hard on the demonstrators, arresting thousands, including dozens of journalists who covered the rallies, and pushing most of the top opposition figures out of the country.

    Several protesters have been killed in the violence and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used by security officials against some of those detained.

    Lukashenka has refused to talk to the opposition about a new elections and responded on May 7 to a call from some U.S. lawmakers a day earlier for Belarus to hold a new vote by saying that he will do so only if the United States does the same.

    “Let the Americans call early elections and we will call an election in Belarus that very same day,” BelTA cited him as saying.

    He added that he considers the results of last year’s U.S. presidential election as having been “falsified,” a claim pushed by former President Donald Trump and many of his supporters despite showing no proof to back up their words.

    The United States has imposed sanctions on Lukashenka and other senior Belarusian officials over the bloody crackdown. The European Union has followed suit.

    Lukashenka looked to placate protesters in December by saying that there needed to be constitutional amendments before an early presidential election could be held.

    His opponents, however, have called Lukashenka’s gesture a sham to help him cling to power.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.