Political prisoners in Belarus: Joint Statement to the OSCE Permanent Council, May 2026

I am delivering this statement on behalf of the following participating States, who are members of the Informal Group of Friends of Democratic Belarus: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and my own country Croatia.

The following participating States are also joining this statement: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Malta, Moldova, North Macedonia, San Marino and Slovakia.

Mr. Chair,

Vitold Ashurak was a glass factory worker and opposition activist from the Belarusian town of Biarozauka. He was involved in environmental activism, participated actively in politics, and took part in the protests that followed the fraudulent presidential election of 9 August 2020. He was arrested in September of the same year and sentenced, under the Criminal Code, to 5 years of imprisonment in a penal colony. Vitold Ashurak would have turned 56 this year - but he will not. He died in prison, on this very day, 5 years ago.

Since then, we mark every 21 May as the International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Belarus and we stand in solidarity with thousands of individuals that have faced politically motivated criminal prosecution since May 2020, and with their families and loved ones.

Since May 2021, at least seven more political prisoners have died in detention in Belarus. These individuals are believed to have been arrested and detained arbitrarily for exercising their fundamental human rights to freedom of opinion and expression, and, while in custody, failed to receive adequate medical attention and care, which would be a violation of Belarus' human rights obligations.

Grave concerns with respect to the human rights situation in Belarus led to two invocations of the Moscow Mechanism, in 2020 and again in 2023. Most recently, the Vienna Mechanism, invoked in June 2024, raised specific concerns about the detention and treatment of prisoners and questioned many individual cases related to prisoners' dignity, access to medication and medical care, to legal counsel of their own choosing, to effective remedies and a fair legal trial.

We regret that, to date, the Belarusian authorities have not provided any substantive responses to these invocations, nor have they made any effort to implement their recommendations.

While the recent releases of prisoners following U.S. efforts, most of whom were detained on politically motivated charges, is a welcome development, we are gravely concerned that many released individuals have been effectively forced into exile often without valid identity documents, placing them in a particularly vulnerable legal situation and at risk of further human rights violations.

Furthermore, as the overall situation in Belarus does not show any signs of tangible improvement, we remain deeply concerned by the continued arbitrary arrests and persecution of individuals for exercising their human rights. As of May 20, Viasna estimates that there were at least 842 political prisoners in Belarus and that repression of all kinds continues unabated.

We condemn the inhuman conditions of detention, ill-treatment and torture, documented most recently by the UN Group of Independent Experts on the Situation of Human Rights in Belarus. In their report, the experts concluded that the Belarusian authorities have continued to systematically violate international human rights law and that there is a persistent lack of accountability for those responsible for the wrongdoing.

In line with the recommendations of the Moscow Mechanism report of 2023, we reiterate the need to immediately and unconditionally release and rehabilitate all political prisoners, including all detained journalists and civil society representatives, and to end all forms of harassment or pressure that may result in their forced departure, deportation or deprivation of consular services. In particular, we call for the humanitarian release of the most vulnerable among the political prisoners due to health issues, age, or the conditions of their detention, including prisoners with severe medical conditions, the elderly, sole caregivers and/or single parents.

Furthermore, we urge the Belarusian authorities to halt the transnational repression of those who have left Belarus, as well as the harassment of family members of those in exile; to adhere to the country's international obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights; and to cooperate fully with international and regional human rights monitoring mechanisms.

Mr. Chair,

Our solidarity with all those who are subject to political and administrative repression in Belarus, and in exile, remains unwavering. We welcome the recent adoption of the Resolution on the situation of human rights in Belarus, which received a record level of support from members of the UN Human Rights Council, and we remain committed to further supporting the Belarusian people's aspiration for a free, democratic and independent Belarus.

Thank you.