The trial of jailed Belarusian pro-democracy activist Ales Bialiatski, co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, began on Thursday (January 5th) in Minsk, announced the Viasna Center he founded, the country's main human rights group. country.
The Viasna center clarified on social networks that Ales Bialiatski and his collaborators Valentin Stefanovich and Vladimir Labkovich, tried with him, could be seen in court in the cage reserved for the accused at the start of the hearing.
The three men have been detained since July 2021.
Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Ales Bialiatski, who founded Viasna (“
Spring
”) in 1996, is co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, alongside two other human rights organizations, Memorial (Russia) and the Center for civil liberties (Ukraine).
Coming from the three main protagonist states of the conflict in Ukraine, the laureates were crowned for their commitment to "
human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence
" in the face of authoritarian forces.
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Ales Bialiatski and his companions were imprisoned after the 2020 massive protests against the regime following the self-declared victory in the presidential election of Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994. The movement gathered tens of thousands of people on the streets of Minsk and other cities for weeks before being subdued gradually with mass arrests, forced exiles and imprisonment of opponents, media officials and NGOs.
A series of penalties
The West has adopted several sets of sanctions against Minsk which, on the other hand, enjoys the unwavering support of Moscow.
Belarus served as a rear base for Russian troops for their offensive against Ukraine launched at the end of February 2022, but the Belarusian army has not taken part in the fighting on Ukrainian territory so far.
The start of Viasna's flagship trial will be followed by that of the trials of independent journalists and of Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, a figure of the Belarusian opposition who lives in exile.
Ales Bialiatski, Valentin Stefanovich and Vladimir Labkovich were initially charged with tax evasion.
“
They face 7 to 12 years in prison
”, Viasna indicated last November, specifying that they were accused of having passed through the Belarusian border “
a large quantity of cash in an organized group
” and of having “
financed collective actions seriously undermining public order
".
"It's a bogus trial"
A fourth defendant, Dmitri Solovyov, is tried in absentia after fleeing to Poland.
"
It's a bogus trial
," he told AFP, "
I don't trust this trial and what will happen there
."
He called
the charges “
absurd
” and the legal process “
theatre ”, adding: “
The law does not exist in Belarus.
The process is completely controlled by a government of gangsters
”.
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On Monday, January 9, the trial of several journalists from the Tut.by site, the main independent media in Belarus, including the editor-in-chief Marina Zolotova, is to begin.
They face a series of charges including tax evasion and incitement to hatred.
The media had been designated as "
extremist
" in 2021.
The same day will be presented in court in Grodno (west) the Belarusian-Polish journalist and activist Andrzej Poczobut, 49, correspondent in Minsk for the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza arrested in March 2021. He is accused according to Viasna of incitement to hatred and for having called "
for actions aimed at undermining the national security of Belarus
".
He faces twelve years in prison.
Tikhanovskaya in exile
On January 17, the trial in absentia of Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, 40, will begin, who faces a multitude of charges including those of high treason, conspiracy to seize power unconstitutionally or the creation and conduct of an extremist organization.
Presidential candidate in place of her imprisoned husband (Sergueï Tikhanovski, a video-blogger who had galvanized the opposition), she had claimed victory in the 2020 presidential election and now lives in exile in Lithuania.
Sergei Tikhanovski was sentenced in December 2021 to 18 years in prison for “
organizing massive unrest
”, “
inciting hatred in society
”, “
disturbing public order
” and “
obstructing the Electoral Commission
”.
Belarus had 1,448 political prisoners as of December 31, according to Viasna.
