STATEMENT BY ORGANIZATIONS OF THE BELARUSIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMUNITY
on the inadmissibility of criminalizing freedom of expression and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people
July 11, 2025
Freedom for all political prisoners in Belarus!
We, the undersigned, are concerned that, amid the current global situation, the plight of political prisoners in Belarus may slip out of the public eye. Meanwhile, the catastrophic situation of approximately 1,200 political prisoners requires immediate intervention.
On the anniversary of the sentence handed down to well-known human rights defenders Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic, and Uladzimir Labkovich, the human rights community issued a statement calling on the international community and demanding that the authorities of Belarus make every possible effort to ensure the unconditional release and rehabilitation of all political prisoners in Belarus.
As it became known on February 20, 2024, 63-year-old political prisoner Ihar Lednik died in the Minsk regional hospital. He was brought there from the Babrujsk colony, where he was serving his sentence. Doctors tried to resuscitate him, but to no avail. Ihar Lednik had group II disability due to heart disease, as well as other chronic diseases. In the colony, his health deteriorated significantly, and he underwent a gastrointestinal surgery.
oint statement by the Belarusian human rights community
November 12 , 2023
On the International Day of Solidarity with Belarus, we, representatives of the human rights community of Belarus, declare.
Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community
September 18, 2023
We, representatives of the human rights community of the Republic of Belarus, having received, collected, and analyzed information about the criminal prosecution by the Belarusian authorities of participants of peaceful assemblies during and after the 2020 presidential elections, the sentences and their execution against the participants, the legal status of those convicted under the so-called "extremist" articles of the Criminal Code, note the following:
Statement by Belarusian human rights organizations in connection with the recognition of Viasna as an extremist organization
We, the Belarusian human rights organizations, strongly protest against the declaration of the Viasna Human Rights Center as an extremist organization and express our solidarity with our colleagues.
It became known on 11 July 2023 that the Belarusian political prisoner, artist Aleś Puškin [Ales Pushkin] died in the hospital’s intensive care unit. According to reports, he developed peritonitis due to untimely medical care, resulting in a septic condition and multiple organ failure.
We state that the initiative of the Prosecutor General's Office is an unjustified interference of the state in the personal life of citizens. It contradicts the international obligations of the Republic of Belarus in the sphere of human rights, including sexual and reproductive rights, as well as poses a threat to various vulnerable groups (including, but not limited to the LGBTQ community, teenagers, women).
The initiative contradicts a number of basic human rights:
Belarusian authorities should immediately end the ill-treatment of Maria Kalesnikava and all the other political prisoners, 24 international and Belarusian rights groups said today. Kalesnikava is being held in solitary confinement and is not receiving adequate medical care despite serious health problems. She is being denied essential foods and medicines.
