Enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention of environmental rights defenders

BLR 001/ 0219 / OBS 018.3

Arbitrary detention/

Enforced disappearance / Incommunicadodetention/

Obstacle to freedom to peaceful assembly

Belarus

May 15, 2020

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 enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention of twoenvironmental rights defenders, as well as the arbitrary arrest and judicialharassment of several other environmental rights defendersin thecontext of the repression of an environmental protest movement against theconstruction of a battery plant LLC “IPower” in Brest[1].

According to the information received, on May 10,2020, around 300 individuals took part in a protest action on Lenin Squareagainst the battery plant construction in Brest. After the rally, the policedetained human rights lawyer Mr. RomanKislyak.On May 11, 2020, Mr.Kislyak’s mother filed a complaint with the regional prosecutor’s officeregarding the enforced disappearance of her son.

On thesame day, Mr. Vladimir Velichkin, a member ofthe Human Rights Center “Viasna” (HRC “Viasna”) whoobserved the protest on behalf of HRC “Viasna”, disappeared after the protest.The police did not disclose the information about his location for two days.Mr. Velichkin’s wife, Ms. Margarita Velichkina, later found out that he wasdetained by the police officers of the Leninsky District Department of InternalAffairs on May 10, 2020 around 1.30 pm. According to the information given bythe authorities, Mr. Velichkin was taken to the Kobrin temporary detentioncentre (outside of Brest). However, the Kobrin District Department of InternalAffairs claimed that they did not hold Mr. Velichkin. On May 11, 2020, Ms.Margarita Velichkina filed a complaint with the regional prosecutor's officeabout the disappearance of her husband.

On themorning of May 12, 2020, their location was identified as Messrs. Roman Kislyak and Vladimir Velichkinwere convoyed to the Leninsky District Court of Brest. Mr. Velichkin’s lawyerlearned that the activist had been detained by police on May 10 and taken tothe Kobrin District Department of Internal Affairs. On May 12, the police tookhim back to Brest. The Observatory considers that Velichkin’s groundlesstransportation to another city, together with failure to provide informationabout his whereabouts to his family and colleagues for two days, were used in aview to putting pressure on the defender.

On May12, 2020, the Leninsky District Court of Brest fined both Messrs. Kislyak andVelichkin 1,350 Rubles (approximately 500 Euros) for the “participation in anunauthorized mass event” (under Article 23.34 of the Code of AdministrativeOffenses of Belarus, “violation of the established procedure for holding arally”). However, they were not released after the hearing: the authoritiestook them to the pre-trial detention center. As of the publication of thisurgent appeal, they await new court hearing in the Leninsky District Departmentof Internal Affairs of Brest, but no other details are available yet.

Priorto the protest, on May 6, 2020, the police arrested Mr. Sergey Petrukhin,one of the leaders of the protest movement, and took him to a temporarydetention facility, located at the Leninsky District Internal AffairsDepartment. He was accused of “violating the established procedure for holdinga rally” (part 1 of Article 23.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses ofBelarus) for participating in a peaceful protest on April 19, 2020, and“filming and transmitting the gathering on his online channel”. The firsthearing on his case was held on May 8, 2020, in the Leninsky District Court ofBrest, but Judge Dmitry Kurovsky postponed the hearing until May 11, 2020. Inthe courtroom, Mr. Petrukhin claimed he had a temperature of 37.8 and that hewas not the only one to have a high temperature in the detention facility. Indisregard to this information, Judge Kurovsky sentenced Mr. Petrukhin to 15days of detention. Later, Mr. Petrukhin was taken to the hospital as histemperature rose to 38. He was later diagnosed with COVID-19 and stays in thecentral city hospital of Brest.

On May8, 2020, four other environmental rights defenders were detained, includingMessrs. Vladimir Moroz, YuriKalko, Denis Malyshenko, Konstantin Ostapuk. The policebroke Mr. Yuri Kalko’s finger during the detention. Mr. Moroz was detained inthe city of Kobrin, thus the police placed him in the temporarydetention center of the Kobrin District Departmentof Internal Affairs. The three others wereheld in the Leninsky District Department of Internal Affairs of Brest. All fouractivists were accused of “participating inan unauthorized mass event” and were held in preliminary detention facilitiesuntil facing trials on May 11 and May 13, 2020. On May 9, 2020, two policeofficers detained Mr. Oleg Vyalov at about 5 pm in his apartment inBrest and escorted him to the Leninsky District Department of Internal Affairsin Brest.

On May11 and 13, 2020, Messrs. Malyshenko and Ostapuk were convicted twice for“participating in the May 3 Brest protest against the plant” (on May 11), andfor “participating in a meeting on May 2 in Brest with a blogger SergeiTikhanovsky who previously announced his intention to run for presidency” (onMay 13). On May 11, 2020, the Leninsky District Court of Brest also condemnedMessrs. Yuri Kalko and Oleg Vyalov. They were fined up to 1080 Roubles(approximately 400 Euros) for “participation” (Kalko) and “repeatedparticipation” (Vyalov) in one of the Brest protests. Mr. Vladimir Morozwastriedon May 12, 2020, and also received a 1010 Roubles (approximately300 Euros) fine.

The Observatory recalls that this is not thefirst time Messrs. Roman Kislyak[2],Vladimir Velichkin, Sergey Petrukhin, Oleg Vyalov, Denis Malychenkoand other environmental rightsdefenders[3]have been targeted for theirparticipation in protests against this battery plant in Brest (see backgroundinformation)[4] and thatthey have previously been arrested and received administrative fines.

The Belarusian legislation violates the right topeaceful assembly by unjustifiably prohibiting citizens to hold peacefulassemblies without authorisation. In Belarus, the authorities routinely rejectrequests to hold peaceful assemblies related to practically any human rights orother societal issue, either without providing adequate reason or by referringto the law that requires organisers to ensure first medical aid during theevent and to subsequently clean the event venue.

The Observatory condemns the arbitrary arrestand judicial harassment of theabove-mentioned environmental rights defendersand urges authorities to immediately and unconditionally releasethem, as their arrest seems to be only aimed at punishing them for theirlegitimate and peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of association andassembly. The Observatory is also concerned with the risk of infection of thedetained human rights defenders in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Belarus is a party to the Aarhus Convention,which prohibits the prosecution of activists for their actions related to theexercise of their environmental rights. More so, in the context of COVID-19pandemic, administrative detention poses a dangerous threat to the health ofthe detainees, thus violating constitutional rights of the detained activiststo life and health.

Background information:

In the morning of February 17, 2019,in the city of Bereza, the police arrested Mr. Alexander Kabanov. At timeof the arrest he was at the Bereza railway station, as he was going to Brest tojoin the Sunday rally as usual. Mr. Alexander Kabanov posted on hisFacebook page that he was arrested for participating in a rally in Brest on February10, 2019. He was brought to Bereza police department and released followingquestioning on the February 10, 2019 events.

On April 12, 2019, Mr. VladimirVelichkin was arrested at the Leninsky police department in Brest, after beingsummoned by the police to appear at the precinct. Nine other environmentaldefenders — Ms. Ekaterina Basargina andMessrs. Dmitry Androsyuk, Vladimir Kozlovsky, Denis Malyshenko,Sergey Svirsky, Vladislav Abramovich, Oleg Yarmolenko, Demyan Lepesevich, and Oleg Vyalov— were arrested at the Leninskypolice department on the same day. Mr. Dmitry Androsyuk and Ms. EkaterinaBasargina were released several hours after the arrests. Others spent threedays in a temporary detention facility of the department. All ten defenders,including Mr. Andrasyuk and Ms. Basargina, were summoned before theLeninsky District Court of the city of Brest for a hearing on April 15, 2019.

At least eight other protesters—Ms. Tatyana Fesikova and Messrs. Alexander Kabanov, Dmitry Bekalyuk, AlesAblyak, Yegor Kondratyuk, Vitaly Kozak, VictorSender, and Nikolay Trotsyuk — werearrested on April 14, 2019, while they were protesting on Brest’s Lenin Squareagainst the construction of the battery plant. They were also summoned beforethe Leninsky District Court of the city of Brest for a hearing on April 15,2019. Mr. Alexander Kabanov was released three hours after his arrest.

Mr. VladimirVelichkin and most of the other protesters were arrested under Article 23.34 ofthe Belarus Code of Administrative offences for violating the procedure fororganizing or holding mass events. The charges were related to the protestalong Brest’s Sovetskaya Street on April 7, 2019, during which people chantedslogans against the construction of the plant. Ms. Tatyana Fesikova was accusedunder the same Article 23.34 for handing out yellow balloons with a protestappeal on March 31, 2019. Mr. Dmitry Bekalyuk was summoned to the Court as awitness in the case of Ms. Fesikova but was later accused of being three hourslate to the precinct.

Thehearings in the cases of all 18 defenders took place at the Leninsky policedepartment in Brest, on April 15, 2019. Media and human rights defenders werenot allowed 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 was held on April 24, 2019. Thehearings in the cases of Ms. Tatyana Fesikova and Messrs. Yegor Kondratyuk,Ales Ablyak, and Victor Sender were postponed to April 25, 2019.

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

On April 8,2020, the Belarus State environmental expertise issued a positive review[5] of the construction project of thebattery plant, giving the company-constructor “IPOWER” the green light for thenext stage of the project, namely, testing of the equipment, water supply,heating and ventilation systems. The public environmental review of theproject, which the President promised[6] to carry out, did nottake place[7].

On April 12, 2020,around 200Brest residents took part in a protest rally against the construction of theBrest battery plant[8].Protesters were wearing masks to protect themselves against the risk ofCOVID-19 contamination, in a context where the Belarus authorities did notimpose any restriction on public gatherings in relation to the COVID-19pandemic. The police officers present on the spot announced that the event was notauthorized by the authorities, but did not proceed with arrests.

On April 17, 2020, Mr. Dmitry Bekalyuk wasarrested by police officers in a grocery store[9].Four police officers took him to a temporary detention facility, located at theLeninsky District Internal Affairs Department, without explaining him neitherhis rights nor a reason for his arrest. At the temporary detention centre, Mr.Bekalyuk found out that the authorities opened an investigation against him forhis participation in a protest rally against the Brest plant construction onApril 12, 2020.

On April 18, 2020, police officers arrestedMessrs. Alexander Kabanov and Dmitry Andrasyuk and placed them in the temporarydetention centre at the Leninsky District Internal Affairs Department. Thehearings in their cases took place on April 20, 2020, and both were convictedand sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention. Unlike Mr. Andrasyuk, whowas found guilty of participating in the rally, Mr. Kabanovwas convicted of organizing the rally (part 2 of Article 23.34 ofthe Code of Administrative Offenses).

As the trial of Mr. Bekalyuk began on April 20,2020, the accused requested a week to familiarize himself with the case and tofind a lawyer. The judge, Mr. Alexander Semenchuk, granted him two days andscheduled the next hearing on April 22, 2020. Subsequently, the LeninskyDistrict Court of Brest convicted Mr. Bekalyuk and sentenced him to 15 days ofadministrative detention for violating part 3 of Article 23.34 of the Code ofAdministrative Offenses for his participation in the protest rally on April 12,2020.

On April 20 and 23, 2020, the Leninsky DistrictCourt of Brest sentenced[10]Messrs. Alexander Kabanov, Dmitry Bekalyuk and Dmitry Andrasyuk,to 15 days of administrative detentionfor taking part in the April 12, 2020 protest against the construction of abattery plant in Brest. Alexander Kabanov was charged with the “organisation ofan unauthorized mass event” (Article 23.34 part 3 of the Code of AdministrativeOffenses), while the two others – with the participation in such event (parts 2of Article 23.34). On May 9, 2020, Mr. Kabanov was diagnosed with COVID-19.

On April 27, 2020, environmental rights defenderMr. Mikhail Galuzo was fined 945 Rubles (approximately 350 Euros) in theLeninsky District Department of Internal Affairs of Brest for disseminatingleaflets in support of the arrested defenders.

On May 7, 2020, a court of the Leninsky districtof Brest fined Mr. Andrei Nevdakh, another environmental rightsdefender, 810 Roubles (approximately 305 Euros) for participating in a rallyagainst the battery plant in Brest on May 3.

Actions requested:

Please write to theauthorities of Belarus, urging them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physicaland psychological integrity of the above-mentioned environmental rightsdefenders and all human rights defenders in Belarus;

ii. Immediately and unconditionally release andput an end to any form of harassment, including at the judicial level, against all thehuman rights defenders mentioned in this Urgent Appeal, as well as all human rights defenders inBelarus;

iii. Comply with all their internationalobligations to respect the exercise of the citizens’ right to freedom ofassociation and assembly, as established in the International Covenant on Civiland Political Rights, in particular its Articles 21 and 22;

iv. Comply with the provisions of the UnitedNations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular with its Articles1, 2, 5 and 12.2;

v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for humanrights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rightsstandards and international instruments ratified by Belarus.

Addresses:

• President AliaksandrLukashenko, Belarus, fax: + 375 172 26 06 10 or + 375 172 22 38 72, email:contact@president.gov.by ;
• GeneralProsecutor, Alexandr Konyuk, Belarus, fax: + 375 17 226 42 52, email: info@prokuratura.gov.by ;
• Minister ofJustice of Belarus, Mr. Oleg Slizhevsky, Belarus, fax: + 375 17 200 86 87,email: kanc@minjust.by ;
• Chairman of theState Control Committee of Belarus, Mr. Leonid Anfimov, Belarus, fax: +37517 289 14 84, email: kgk@mail.belpak.by ;
• Permanent Missionof 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. AleksandrMikhnevich, Embassy of Belarus in Brussels, Fax: + 32 2.340.02.87, Email: belgium@mfa.gov.by ;
• Svetlogorskdistrict 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, May 15,2020

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 theObservatory, 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) 22809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

[1] The constructionof the plant is largely criticized by ecological activists and civil society ofBelarus. They claim that the battery factory constructed 7 km away from thecity will pollute the environment of Brest and the Brest region. The companyowner “1AKGroup” plans to establish in the Brest cite a full production cycleof lead-acid batteries. Human rights activists highlight that the plantfacilities are being built with numerous irregularities in terms of securityand environmental norms. Since the beginning of 2018, a civil campaign has beenunderway against the construction of the battery plant in Brest. In February2018, a petition of about 40,000 signatures against the construction wastransferred to the Administration of the President of Belarus. Since February25, 2018, every Sunday, protesters assemble peacefully and silently on theLenin Square in Brest to express their opposition by feeding pigeons on thesquare. When organisers started the protests, they sought authorisation fromthe authorities, yet they only got one authorisation (in April 2018) while allother requests were denied. Therefore, protesters decided to simply assembleand feed pigeons or carry balloons in sign of protest.

[2] See also theObservatory Urgent Appeal BLR 003 /1018 / OBS 128, published on October 19, 2018.

[3] See also theObservatory Urgent Appeal BLR 001 /0219 / OBS 018, published on February 20, 2019, and BLR 001 / 0219 / OBS 018.1,published and April 17, 2019.

[4] Seethe Observatory Urgent Appeal BLR 001 / 0219 / OBS 018.1 published on April 17,2019; BLR 002 / 0918 / OBS 119 published on September 28, 2018 and BLR 002 /0918 / OBS 119.1 published on October 12, 2018.

[5] See :https://tjournal.ru/by/158110-aypauer-poluchil-polozhitelnoe-zaklyuchenie-po-akkumulyatornomu-zavodu

[6] See : http://president.gov.by/ru/news_ru/view/rabochaja-poezdka-v-brest-21949/

[7] See : http://spring96.org/ru/news/96519

[8] See : https://belsat.eu/ru/news/v-breste-sotni-lyudej-protestovali-protiv-akkumulyatornogo-zavoda/

[9] See : https://spring96.org/ru/news/96641

[10] See : http://spring96.org/ru/news/96610