Belarus: All arbitrarily detained human rights defenders must be released

Belarus: All arbitrarily detained human rights defenders must be released

Posted on December 15, 2025 Civic Space 5 min read Share: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn

Belarus: All arbitrarily detained human rights defenders must be released - Civic Space

Ales Bialiatski and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya / credits: Viasna

On 13 December, the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenko released over 100 political prisoners following an agreement with the United States to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash. Among the released are prominent human rights defenders and Viasna members Ales Bialiatski and Uladzimir Labkovich, as well as key opposition figures, such as Maryia Kalesnikava, Viktar Babaryka and lawyer Maksim Znak. ARTICLE 19 joins the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders - a partnership between International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) - and the undersigned organisations in welcoming this long-awaited release. This positive development, however, constitutes a necessary but insufficient step, as all arbitrarily detained human rights defenders, including former FIDH Vice President and Viasna colleague Valiantsin Stefanovic, Viasna team member Marfa Rabkova, and woman human rights defender Nasta Loika must be released now.

The undersigned organisations recall that Ales Bialiatski, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former FIDH Vice President, and Viasna lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich were arbitrarily detained on 14 July 2021, prosecuted, and sentenced to 10 and 7 years in prison respectively on 3 March 2023 in retaliation for their legitimate and peaceful human rights activities. Their imprisonment constituted a grave violation of Belarus' international human rights obligations, including the rights to freedom of expression, association, and fair trial.

While their release brings long-overdue relief to them, their families, their colleagues and the human rights community around the world, we stress that this step remains insufficient as long as hundreds of human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, activists, and political opponents remain arbitrarily detained in Belarus on politically motivated charges solely for exercising their fundamental freedoms, and repressions against Belarusian dissidents continue unabated. In particular, Valiantsin Stefanovic, former Vice President of FIDH arrested along Ales Bialiatski and Uladzimir Labkovic in July 2021, women human rights defender and Viasna member Marfa Rabkova, detained since September 2020, and founder of Human Constanta woman human rights defender Nasta Loika, arbitrarily detained since September 2022, were not among the released political prisoners. Alongside them, numerous human rights journalists, lawyers, and trade union activists remain arbitrarily detained, including Andrzej Poczobut, Katsiaryna Andreyeva, Ihar Ilyash, Danil Palianski, Pavel Dabravolski, Andrei Aliaksandrau, and many others.

The undersigned organisations call on the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners and all those arbitrarily detained, to put an end to judicial harassment and reprisals against civil society, and to repeal repressive legislation used to criminalise peaceful dissent and freedom of expression. The authorities must also ensure full rehabilitation, including the quashing of convictions and restoration of civil and political rights, for all those unlawfully detained for years.

The undersigned organisations further urge the international community to continue to closely monitor the situation in Belarus and to take all available legal, political, and diplomatic measures to ensure accountability for the grave human rights violations and international crimes, including by referring the situation to the International Criminal Court.

Signatories:

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Human Rights Center Viasna

Human Rights Center, Georgia

ILI Foundation, Kazakhstan

Civil Society Institute, Armeniaia

Public Association "Dignity", Kazakhstan

Promo-LEX Association, Moldova

Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Norway

Östgruppen (Swedish Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights)

Austausch e.V., Germany

Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC)

Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Hungary

Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan

aditus foundation, Malta

LIBERECO - Partnership for Human Rights, Germany/Switzerland

Redress

The International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)

ARTICLE 19

People In Need

aditus foundation

Front Line Defenders

Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan

European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE)

International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)

Human Rights Centre ZMINA, Ukraine

Center for Civil Liberties, Ukraine