Human Rights Activist Jailed for Oppositionist Activities

Major Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski (50) was arrested in November 2011 and subsequently sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for allegedly concealing substantial income. Amnesty International believes his detention was politically motivated with the sole aim of preventing Bialiatski’s further work in defence of human rights in Belarus. Furthermore the trial violated international fair trial standards in several respects.

Bialiatski first opposed the regime when Belarus was still part of the Soviet Union. Two years after President Alexander seized power, Bialiatski co-founded the organization Viasna, based in Minsk. It provided financial and legal assistance to local political prisoners. For this work he and his colleagues were supervised by the Belarusian secret service. In 2003, the authorities revoked the recognition of Viasna, limiting its operations against the undemocratic political system.

In 2011 Bialiatski was arrested and sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. His apartment and the headquarters of the organization Viasna were searched and the police confiscated documents, office equipment and computers. Bialiatski was fined and ordered to forfeit his assets, including the apartment where he lived with his wife and son and the apartment that housed his organization. Officially, he was arrested for the use of accounts in Lithuania and Poland, after information relating to these foreign accounts was provided by the authorities of these countries. After it became clear that the persecution of Bialiatski by the Belarusian state was unfounded, the governments of Poland and Lithuania apologized.
After the derecognization of Viasna in 2003, the organization could no longer open bank accounts within Belarus. Since 2003, authorities have repeatedly denied requests for re-registration, forcing representatives of Viasna to open accounts in neighboring nations to finance their human rights activities. Ales argues that opening accounts abroad was inevitable because the government prevented him from managing the money directly in Belarus.

The trial of Bialiatski contained clear elements of a political show trial. The questioning of witnesses frequently did not relate to the charges, but instead to the human rights activities of Ales Bialiatski and the witnesses themselves. Several prominent human rights activists and Human Rights Centre Viasna employees have been interrogated in relation to the case. The evidence presented by the prosecution included copies of bank statements that were not authenticated, and some documents were presented as coming from anonymous informants, which is in violation of Belarusian trial procedures.