The procès d’Ales Bialyatski, un militant Belarusian for the democratic emprisonne, colauréat the Nobel Prize of la paix 2022, a commencé jeudi in Minsk, a noncé le center Viasna qu’il a fondé, the principal group of defense of droits humains dans town.
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Mr. Bialyatsky and his collaborators, such as BIEN Stefanovitch and Labkovitch, appeared in the cage reserved for the defendants, according to photos from the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. The three men have been detained since July 2021.
Ales Bialiatsky, 60, with white hair and a black T-shirt, sat in the front row, his two companions standing behind him, looking depressed or drowsy in the cage surrounded by four armed policemen.
Initially accused of tax evasion, they are now charged with bringing large sums of cash into Belarus and having “financed collective actions seriously undermining public order,” Viasna explained in November, adding that they risked between 7 and 12 years in prison.
The three pleaded not guilty on Thursday.
Mr. Bialiatsky, who created Viasna (“Spring”) in 1996, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with two other human rights organizations, Memorial (Russia) and the Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine).
He and his colleagues were imprisoned after massive protests erupted in 2020 against the regime following the unilateral declaration of victory in the presidential elections by Alexander Lukashenko, who has led Belarus since 1994.
“theatre” justice
The trial of the fourth accused, Dmitry Solovyov, in absentia after he fled to Poland. “It’s a sham trial,” he told AFP. “I don’t trust this trial and what will happen there.”
He described the accusations as “absurd” and the legal proceedings as “theatre,” adding: “The law does not exist in Belarus. The entire process is controlled by the gangster government.”
Human rights group Amnesty International called the trial a “gross act of injustice”, saying it was “retaliation” against the defendants for their “activism”.
Amnesty International said Lukashenko’s government “is taking particular retaliation against human rights activists, and the outcome of the ‘trial’ appears to be harsh.”
The 2020 movement gathered tens of thousands of people on the streets of Minsk and other cities for weeks before it was gradually crushed by mass arrests, forced exiles, and jailing of opponents, media and NGO leaders.
The West has adopted several packages of sanctions against Belarus, which, on the other hand, enjoys the unwavering support of Moscow.
In return, this country agreed to serve as a rear base for the Russian forces in its attack against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022. However, the Belarusian army has not yet participated in the fighting on Ukrainian soil.
Serial trial
The Viasna trial will be followed by that of the independent journalists and that of Svetlana Tikhanovska, a Belarusian opposition figure living in exile.
Next Monday, the trial of several journalists from Tut.by, the main independent media in Belarus, including editor-in-chief Marina Zolotova, is scheduled to begin. They face a series of charges, including tax evasion and inciting hatred. This media was described as “extremist” in 2021.
On the same day, the Polish-Belarusian journalist and activist Andrzej Bokzubot, 49, and the correspondent in Minsk for the Polish newspaper, will appear on the same day in court in Grodno (west). Gazeta Weborcza, who was arrested in March 2021. He is accused, according to Viasna magazine, of inciting hatred and calling for “actions aimed at undermining the national security of Belarus.” He faces a 12-year prison sentence.
On January 17, the trial in absentia of Ms. Tikhanovskaya, 40, who faces a number of charges including charges of high treason, conspiracy to seize power unconstitutionally and creating and leading an extremist organisation.
The presidential candidate in place of her imprisoned husband — Sergei Tikhanovsky, a vlogger who had galvanized the opposition — declared victory in the 2020 presidential election and now lives in exile in Lithuania.
Sergei Tikhanovsky was sentenced in December 2021 to 18 years in prison for “organizing large-scale unrest”, “inciting hatred in society”, “disrupting public order” and “obstructing the work of the Election Commission”.
