On 20 May human rights organization Front Line Defenders released a statement regarding new cases of abuse of prison regulations against political prisoner Ales Bialiatski.

On 16 May 2013, the wife of human rights defender Mr Ales Bialiatski went to the Bobruisk colony No.2, where her husband has been held since February 2012, in order to bring him a food parcel.  However, the food parcel was refused by prison officials, who informed her that in March 2013 Ales Bialiatski’s right to receive food from visitors had been suspended for six months.

This incident is not the first time that disciplinary measures have been used against Ales Bialiatski. Between March and June 2012, he received three reprimands, one of which resulted in the loss of visitation rights. Following the three reprimands, in June 2012 the human rights defender was named a ‘malicious disturber’, which resulted in his exclusion from the 2012 amnesty for economic crimes. Moreover, the amount of personal funds that he could use to purchase food and other basic items was decreased five-fold by the colony administration. In August 2012, two more reprimands were brought against him; one because he brought a piece of bread to his cell after dinner, the other because he put a curtain around his bed for privacy. As a result of these he was not allowed to received food parcels . He was also denied visitation rights. On 19 October 2012, the weight of parcels the human rights defender was allowed to receive was reduced from two to one kilogram, a measure which does not apply to any other prisoner. A parcel that his wife sent to him was later returned due to alleged violations of the terms of delivery.

Front Line Defenders believes that continuous reprimanding of Ales Bialiatski is an abuse of prison regulations and is being used as a tool to worsen the conditions of his detention and prevent his early release.

Human rights defenders sent an open letter to the Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs and called to release Ales Bialiatski

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), addressed Uladzimir Makei, the Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs, with a request to implement Decision of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the case of human rights defender Ales Bialiatski. They demanded an immediate and unconditional release of Ales Bialiatski, and accordance an enforceable right to compensation, and also implementation of the negative obligation of Belarus not to interfere with the founding of associations or their activities, but as well as the positive obligation of the State to ensure and provide measures such as facilitating associations tasks by public funding or allowing tax exemptions for funding received from outside the country.

Full text of the letter is following:

OPEN LETTER – THE OBSERVATORY

BELARUS: Open Letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs 

Mr. Uladzimir Makei

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

ul. Lenina, 19

Minsk 220030

Republic of Belarus

By Email: mail@mfa.gov.by

Paris-Geneva, May 16, 2013

Re: Request to implement Decision A/HRC/WGAD/2012/39 of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the case of human rights defender Ales Bialiatski

Dear Minister,

At its 64th session, the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) adopted Decision A/HRC/WGAD/2012/39, published on November 23, 2012, in which it found in particular that the detention of Mr. Ales Bialiatski, President of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Viasna” and FIDH Vice-President, was arbitrary, “being in contravention of Article 20, paragraph 1, of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” (ICCPR). The WGAD emphasised that “the adequate remedy is to release Mr. Bialiatski and accord him an enforceable right to compensation pursuant to Article 9, paragraph 5, of the ICCPR.

On March 5, 2013, during the 22nd session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) held in Geneva, the Delegation of the Republic of Belarus challenged the authority of the WGAD to investigate and adopt an opinion on the detention of Mr. Ales Bialiatski and described the investigation and opinion as an interference into the internal affairs of Belarus.

The Observatory recalls that UN Special Procedures (including the WGAD) are subsidiary bodies of the UN. They were set up by and report back to the UN HRC. The members of the WGAD are selected by a Consultative Group appointed by the UN HRC, on the basis of their “expertise and experience in the area of the mandate, integrity, independence and impartiality”. Their “legal opinions”, such as the above-mentioned decision on Mr. Ales Bialiatski, are UN decisions. The Republic of Belarus as a UN Member State has an obligation to cooperate with all UN bodies and mechanisms (as provided for in Article 56 of the UN Charter), and it is also bound by treaties, in particular the ICCPR, which Belarus ratified in 1973.

WGAD is entrusted by the Human Rights Council with the mandate to investigate “alleged cases of detention imposed arbitrarily or otherwise inconsistently with the relevant international standards set forth in the Universal Declaration or in relevant international legal instruments accepted by the States concerned”.

The WGAD assesses information collected under an adversary procedure in a transparent manner and uses a standard of “convincing evidence” to determine whether a detention is arbitrary or inconsistent with the applicable international standards or whether the information available is not sufficient to make such determination. The working practices of the WGAD were approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 15, 1997.

Being an independent mechanism, it has the discretion to act on any information or individual case it deems appropriate. The Observatory emphasises that the WGAD has acted in full compliance with its prerogatives. In that respect, we recall that the WGAD “evaluates all information in the light of internationally recognized human rights standards relevant to their mandate, and of international conventions to which the State concerned is a party.

In that case, the WGAD held that laws in forced applied to prosecute and detain Mr. Bialiatski contradicted international human rights standards binding the Republic of Belarus.

In light of all these elements, the Observatory respectfully urges you to comply with the aforementioned international obligations and, more particularly, to implement Decision A/HRC/WGAD/2012/39 of the UN WGAD on the case of Mr. Ales Bialiatski, in particular by:

– releasing him immediately and unconditionally, and accord him an enforceable right to compensation (paragraph 53 of the Decision) ;

– conforming with the “negative obligation “of Belarus “not to interfere with the founding of associations or their activities”, but also with the “positive obligation” of the State “to ensure and provide measures such as facilitating associations’ tasks by public funding or allowing tax exemptions for funding received from outside the country”(paragraph 48 of the decision).

Finally, the Observatory takes note with appreciation of the Republic of Belarus’ commitment to cooperate in a constructive manner with the Human Rights Council and its thematic special procedures and urges it to extend a standing invitation to all UN Special Procedures and invite the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders as manifestations of this significant commitment.

We hope that you will take all these elements into account and remain at your disposal for further discussions,

Yours sincerely,

Souhayr Belhassen

President of FIDH

Gerald Staberock

Secretary General of OMCT

***

Ales Bialiatski is the Chairman of Human Rights Centre Viasna. On 24 November 2011, he was found guilty of tax evasion on a large scale by the Pershamayski District Court of Minsk following an unfair trial, and was condemned to four and a half years imprisonment as well as the confiscation of all property including belongings registered in the name of other persons. The court also fined the human rights defender 721 million Belarusian Rubles (approx 82,700 USD) for alleged unpaid taxes and 36 million Belarusian Rubles (approx 4,100 USD) for state costs.

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