Arbitrary arrest and judicial harassment of Vladimir Velichkin and other 17 environmental defenders

New information

BLR 001 / 0219 / OBS018.1

Arbitrary detention/

Judicial harassment/

Obstacle to freedom to peaceful assembly

Belarus

April 17, 2019

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation AgainstTorture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgentintervention in the following situation in Belarus.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliablesources about the arbitrary arrest and judicial harassment of Mr. VladimirVelichkin, an environmental rights defender and member of the Human RightsCenter “Viasna” (HRC “Viasna”)[1], as well as other 17 environmentaldefenders, in the context of therepression of an environmental protest movement against the construction of abattery plant in Brest[2].

According to the information received, on April12, 2019, Mr. Vladimir Velichkin was arrested at the Leninsky police departmentin Brest, after being summoned by the police to appear at the precinct. Nineother environmental defenders—Ms. Ekaterina Basargina and Messrs.Dmitry Androsyuk, Vladimir Kozlovsky, Denis Malashenko, Sergey Svirsky,Vladislav Abramovich, Oleg Yarmolenko, Demyan Lepesevich, and OlegVyalov— were arrested at the Leninsky police department on the same day.Mr. Dmitry Androsyuk and Ms. Ekaterina Basargina were released several hoursafter the arrests. Others spent three days in a temporary detention facility ofthe department. All ten defenders, including Mr. Andrasyukand Ms. Basargina, were summoned before the Leninsky District Court of the cityof Brest for a hearing on April 15, 2019.

At least eight other protesters—Ms. TatyanaFesikova and Messrs. Alexander Kabanov, Dmitry Bekalyuk, Ales Ablyak, Yegor Kondratyuk,Vitaly Kozak, Victor Sender, and Nikolay Trotsyuk— werearrested on April 14, 2019, while they were protesting on Brest’s Lenin Squareagainst the construction of the battery plant. Theywere also summoned before the Leninsky District Court of the city of Brest fora hearing on April 15, 2019. Mr. Alexander Kabanov was released threehours after his arrest.

According to the information received, Mr.Vladimir Velichkin and most of the other protesters were arrested under Article23.34 of the Belarus Code of Administrative offences for violating theprocedure for organizing or holding mass events. The charges are related to theprotest along Brest’s Sovetskaya Street on April 7, 2019, during which peoplechanted slogans against the construction of the plant. Ms. Tatyana Fesikova wasaccused under the same Article 23.34 for handing out yellow balloons with aprotest appeal on March 31, 2019. Mr. DmitryBekalyuk was summoned to the Court as a witness in the case of Ms. Fesikovabut was later accused of being three hours late to the precinct.

The hearings in thecases of all 18 defenders took place at the Leninsky police department inBrest, on April 15, 2019. Media and human rights defenders were notallowed to attend the hearings as observers. The Court postponed theconsideration of cases of those arrested on April 12, 2019 —Messrs. VladimirVelichkin, Dmitry Adrosyuk, Vladimir Kozlovsky, Denis Malashenko, SergeySvirsky, Vladislav Abramovich, Demyan Lepesevich, and Oleg Vyalov—to April 18,2019. The hearing in the case of Vitaly Kozak will be held on April 24, 2019. The hearings in the cases of Ms. TatyanaFesikova and Messrs. Yegor Kondratyuk, Ales Ablyak, and Victor Sender werepostponed to April 25, 2019.

Mr. Oleg Yarmolenko was fined with 30 basicunits (the equivalent of approximately 24.5 Belarusian Rubles, approximately 10Euros), Mr. Dmitry Bekalyuk withone basic unit, and Mr. Nikolay Trotsyuk with 10 basic units.

The Observatory recalls that this is not thefirst time Messrs. Vladimir Velichkin, Alexander Kabanov and Vitaly Kazak arearrested and that other human rights defenders have been targeted for theirparticipation in protests against this battery plant in Brest, such as Mr. RomanKysliak[3]. It emphasisesthat the Belarusian legislation violates the right to peaceful assembly byunjustifiably prohibiting citizens to hold peaceful assemblies withoutauthorisation. In Belarus, the authorities routinely reject requests to holdpeaceful assemblies related to practically any human rights or other societalissue, either without providing adequate reason or by referring to the law thatrequires organisers to ensure first medical aid during the event and tosubsequently clean the event venue[4].

The Observatory condemns the arbitrary arrest andjudicial harassment of Messrs. Vladimir Velichkin and all the other 17environmental defenders above mentioned, as they seem to be only aimed atpunishing them for their legitimate and peaceful exercise of the right tofreedom of association and assembly.

Background information:

On February 16, 2019, Mr. Vladimir Velichkin wasarrested at the Leninsky police department in Brest, after being summoned bythe police to appear at the precinct. After his arrest, he spent two days in atemporary detention facility of the department. On February 18, he was summonedbefore the Leninsky District Court of the city of Brest. The Court found himguilty of participating in an unauthorized mass event under Article 23.34 ofthe Belarus Code of Administrative offences and sentenced him to a fine of382,5 Belarusian rubles (approximately 156 Euros).

The charges related to a rally organised toprotest the construction of a battery plant in Brest— which took place onDecember 30, 2018 and was attended by around 170 protestors. The rally was the45th in a series of related protests that have been held on theLenin square in Brest every Sunday since February 25, 2018.

On December 30, 2018, Mr. Vladimir Velichkin,who participated in this rally as well as in numerous previous rallies againstthe battery plant, gave a brief interview to online blogger Mr. SergeiPetrukhin. The Court considered that the message he passed during the interviewcontained “negativity towards the authorities and attracted the attention ofcitizens”, which formed the basis for his arrest and subsequent charges.

Mr. Vitaly Kazak was arrested and placed in thesame temporary detention facility as Mr. Vladimir Velichkin—the Leninsky policedepartment in Brest—on February 16, 2019. He was accused of “organizing anunauthorized mass event in an inappropriate location involving a citizen of aforeign state” (Article 23.34 of the Code). The court found him guilty andcharged him with 1,020 Belarusian rubles (approximately 419 Euros).

In the morning of February 17, 2019, in the cityof Bereza, the police arrested Mr. Alexander Kabanov. At time of the arrest hewas at the Bereza railway station, as he was going to Brest to join the Sundayrally as usual. Mr. Alexander Kabanov posted on his Facebook page that he wasarrested for participating in a rally in Brest on February 10, 2019. He wasbrought to Bereza police department and released following questioning on theFebruary 10, 2019 events.

Actions requested:

Please write to theauthorities of Belarus, urging them to:

1. Put an end to any form of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Messrs. Vladimir Velichkin, all the other 17 environmental defenders above mentioned, as well as all human rights defenders in Belarus;

2. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Messrs. Vladimir Velichkin, all the other 17 environmental defenders above mentioned, and all human rights defenders in Belarus;

3. Comply with all their international obligations to respect the exercise of the citizens’ right to freedom of association and assembly, as established in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in particular its Articles 21 and 22;

4. Comply with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular with its Articles 1, 2, 5 and 12.2;

5. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Belarus.

Addresses:

• President Aliaksandr Lukashenko, Belarus, fax: + 375 172 26 06 10 or + 375 172 22 38 72, email: contact@president.gov.by ;
• General Prosecutor, Alexandr Konyuk, Belarus, fax: + 375 17 226 42 52, email: info@prokuratura.gov.by ;
• Minister of Justice of Belarus, Mr. Oleg Slizhevsky, Belarus, fax: + 375 17 200 86 87, email: kanc@minjust.by ;
• Chairman of the State Control Committee of Belarus, Mr. Leonid Anfimov, Belarus, fax: +375 17 289 14 84, email: kgk@mail.belpak.by ;
• Permanent Mission of Belarus to the United Nations in Geneva, Mr. Yury Ambrazevich, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 748 24 51, email: mission.belarus@ties.itu.int ;
• H.E. Mr. Aleksandr Mikhnevich, Embassy of Belarus in Brussels, Fax: + 32 2.340.02.87, Email: belgium@mfa.gov.by ;
• Svetlogorsk district court, Belarus, fax: +375 (2342) 7-02-47, 4-02-39; e-mail: svetlgorsk@court.by .

Please also write to thediplomatic representations of Belarus in your respective countries.

***

Paris-Geneva, April 17,2019

Kindly inform us of any action undertakenquoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 byFIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of thisprogramme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression againsthuman rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu,the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented byinternational civil society.

To contact the Observatory,call the emergency line:

• E-mail: appeals@fidh-omct.org
• Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80
• Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

[1] HRC Viasna is a member of FIDH.

[2] The construction of the plant is largelycriticised by ecological defenders and civil society of Belarus. They claimthat the battery factory constructed 7 km away from the city will pollute theenvironment of Brest and the Brest region. Human rights defenders highlightthat the plant facilities are being built with numerous irregularities in termsof security and environmental norms. Since the beginning of 2018, a civilcampaign has been underway against the construction of the battery plant in Brest.In February 2018, a petition of about 40,000 signatures against theconstruction was transferred to the Administration of the President of Belarus.Since February 25, 2018, every Sunday, protesters assemble peacefully and silentlyon the Lenin Square in Brest to express their opposition by feeding pigeons onthe square. When organisers started the protests, they sought authorisationfrom the authorities, yet they only got one authorisation (in April 2018) whileall other requests were denied. Therefore, protesters decided to simplyassemble and feed pigeons or carry balloons in sign of protest.

[3] See Observatory Urgent Appeal BLR 003 / 1018 /OBS 128, published on October 19, 2018.

[4] See the Observatory Urgent Appeals BLR 002 /0918 / OBS 119 published on September 28, 2018 and BLR 002 / 0918 / OBS 119.1published on October 12, 2018. @font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math";}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; }h1 { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0cm; break-after: avoid; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-weight: normal; }p.MsoFootnoteText, li.MsoFootnoteText, div.MsoFootnoteText { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 16.95pt; text-indent: -16.95pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; }p.MsoHeader, li.MsoHeader, div.MsoHeader { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; }p.MsoFooter, li.MsoFooter, div.MsoFooter { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; }span.Heading1Char { }span.FooterChar { }span.HeaderChar { }span.FootnoteTextChar { }p.Texteprformat, li.Texteprformat, div.Texteprformat { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; }span.LienInternet { }span.FootnoteAnchor { vertical-align: super; }.MsoChpDefault { font-size: 10pt; }div.WordSection1 { }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; }