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This side event in the margins of the 52nd Human Rights Council session will update states on the constantly deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus, particularly with respect to the most serious violations occurring in the country and the need to continue international attention through the extension and strengthening of existing HRC mandates.

Tomorrow, the Leninsky District Court in Minsk is expected to hand down its verdict in the case of Viasna leaders Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovich and Uladzimir Labkovich. On the eve of the verdict, the signatory organisations reiterate their calls to release the human rights defenders and drop all charges against them.

There are 1400+ political prisoners in Belarus, as of February 2023 and that number continues to rise. The “Letters from Lukashenka’s Prisoners” campaign aims to ensure the unjustly detained are not forgotten and that their voices are still heard from behind bars.

Human Rights House Foundation joins international and Belarusian CSOs in urging Human Rights Council member and observer states to establish an independent investigative mechanism to complement and follow-up on the work of the existing OHCHR examination.

Alena Hnauk is a 65-year-old pensioner and activist from the village of Tkachi in the Pruzhany region of Belarus. She was first sentenced to two years of home confinement for participating in the so-called “dancing protest” on 13 September 2020 in Brest.

If Ales [Bialiatski] had not received the [Nobel] Peace Prize, images of a Belarusian human rights defender locked in a cage in court would never have made international headlines.

On Saturday 10 December, this year’s Nobel Peace laureates received their awards at a ceremony in Oslo’s town hall. Human Rights House Foundation once again offers its sincerest congratulations to these brave human rights defenders: Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine), Memorial (Russia) and Viasna’s Ales Bialiatski (Belarus).

Dzmitry Kubarau is UI/UX designer from Minsk. Known as ‘Dima’ to his friends, he likes tattoos, fashion, and chess. Dzmitry was accused of “calling people to actively participate in mass riots, organising them himself and participating in them” from 9 to 12 August 2020. He was detained on 11 August 2020 and taken to the KGB pre-trial detention centre. That same night, he signed a confession while in the hands of the KGB. At trial, Dzmitry pleaded not guilty and reported the torture that led to his ‘confession.’ On 24 March 2021 he was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony under part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code (“Organisation of riots”).

At the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) continued its work alongside the network of Human Rights Houses & other civil society partners in calling on the Council to address human rights challenges and support human rights defenders across Eastern Europe and beyond.