Human rights defenders: Over 450 political prisoners in Belarus. Five new names on list
The Belarusian human rights community has recognised five more people behind bars as political prisoners. All in all, there are 454 political prisoners in Belarus, reports human rights centre Viasna.
On June 1, in response to the new cases of conviction and imprisonment on defamatory charges and on charges of insulting the state symbols of Belarus, human rights activists once again reaffirmed their repeated demands to decriminalise defamation and refrain from imprisoning individuals for insulting officials, the state, government agencies and symbols.
According to them, the following persons imprisoned for insulting the president, government officials (police officers), judges and insulting state symbols:
- Ruslan Valyuk – sentenced by Smarhon district court under Art. 188 of the Criminal Code (defamation) to two years of restricted freedom in an open correctional facility; sent to serve the sentence;
- Artsyom Kandratsiyeu – sentenced by Orsha district court under Art. 188 of the Criminal Code (defamation) to one and a half years of restricted freedom in an open correctional facility; sent to serve the sentence;
- Dzmitry Lukashevich – detained, charged under Art. 368 of the Criminal Code (insult to the president) and Part 2 of Art. 339 (hooliganism); in custody in a pre-trial detention centre;
- Andrey Sharenda – detained, charged under Art. 368 of the Criminal Code (insulting the president) and Art. 361 (appeals to actions aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus); under house arrest;
- Syarhei Rudzinski – sentenced by Orsha district court under Art. 369 of the Criminal Code (insulting a government official) to one and a half years of restricted freedom in an open correctional facility; sent to serve the sentence.
Six human rights watchdogs have considered the persecution and imprisonment of Ruslan Valyuk, Artsyom Kandratsiyeu, Dzmitry Lukashevich, Andrey Sharenda, and Syarhei Rudzinski to be politically motivated, as they are related to the peaceful exercise of freedom of expression. They call on the Belarusian authorities to immediately release all political prisoners as well as drop criminal charges against them.
