Belarus: Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers

• In Belarus, lawyers who represent clients in political cases or denounce human rights violations face systematic and widespread repression.
• The Belarusian authorities have taken control of the legal profession and eroded its independence; the Bar Association has become a tool of the government’s agenda and repression.
• Belarus should stop all politically motivated actions against lawyers and create a normal working environment for them to perform their professional duties.

(Vilnius, May 27, 2024) – Belarusian Human Rights Watch said authorities conducted a systematic and widespread crackdown on lawyers who took on political cases or exposed human rights abuses. Belarusian Association of Lawyers for Human Rights,as well as Defense Rights Project In a report released today.

The 95-page report“I swear to perform my duties as a defense lawyer honestly and faithfully”: Belarus’ politically motivated crackdown on human rights lawyers” documents the Belarusian government’s near-total takeover of the legal profession and the Lukashenko government’s crackdown on human rights lawyers.

“By systematically retaliating against human rights lawyers, undermining their rights, and violating the rights of their clients in politically motivated cases, the Belarusian authorities have turned the judicial system into a travesty of justice and denied the Belarusian people their rights to a fair trial and equal protection of the law,” he said. Anastasia KruppeAssociate researcher for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch. “Belarus should end politically motivated prosecutions of lawyers and restore the independence of the legal profession.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 19 Belarusian lawyers between September 2023 and April 2024 and analyzed publications on the Bar Association’s website from the previous three years. Human Rights Watch also worked with the Belarusian Association of Human Rights Lawyers and the Right to Defence Project to analyze more than 140 cases of lawyers’ license revocations based on public data and interviews, finding a pattern of arbitrary and politically motivated license revocations.

The government’s targeting of human rights lawyers is part of a broader government-led crackdown on any form of dissent that has gripped the country in the run-up to and following the 2020 presidential election and amid massive popular protests against Alexander Lukashenko’s bid for a sixth consecutive term as president.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found in its 2023 and 2024 reports that Belarusian authorities’ violations are part of their efforts to stamp out all forms of dissent, “Possible crimes against humanity,” include”Crime of persecution”

In Belarus, lawyers are a lifeline for clients prosecuted for peacefully exercising their rights or for attempting to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Clients in such cases face serious rights violations, including torture and other forms of ill-treatment, and are often held in harsher conditions than other prisoners.

From the moment they take over political cases, Belarusian authorities impose numerous obstacles to prevent lawyers from effectively performing their professional duties. Authorities prohibit lawyers from meeting with their clients and wiretap and record confidential conversations with their clients. Authorities also undermine the defense by forcing lawyers to sign extensive nondisclosure agreements and arbitrarily halting public hearings, preventing lawyers from sharing case materials with independent experts or exposing to the public the serious human rights violations suffered by their clients.

This is the first time in modern Belarusian history that lawyers have been imprisoned on political charges in retaliation for representing clients in political cases. At least six lawyers – Maksim Znak, Aliaksandr Danilevich, Vital Brahinets, Anastasiya Lazarenka, Yuliya Yurhilevich and Aliaksei Barodka – have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to 10 years on trumped-up political charges.

Since September 2020, Belarusian authorities have arbitrarily arrested at least 23 lawyers and used the arrests as a pretext to suspend their representation in political cases and revoke their licenses to practice law. Many lawyers have been arbitrarily detained and interrogated, and subjected to other harassment and threats.

“Despite all the government’s efforts, Belarusian human rights lawyers refuse to stop working because their licenses have been revoked,” said Maryia Kolesava-Hudzilina, president of the Belarusian Association of Human Rights Lawyers. “Even in exile, our lawyers continue to fight and use international protection mechanisms to hold Belarus accountable for human rights violations.”

The Ministry of Justice, in violation of international principles for the protection of the independence of lawyers, exercises full control over the legal profession in Belarus, monitors the entry of lawyers into the profession, has the power to revoke lawyers’ licenses, regulates the way lawyers perform their duties, and deprives lawyers’ self-government bodies of all independence. President Lukashenko has said that the work of lawyers should be considered the work of “politicians”, carrying out tasks assigned by the state and protecting national interests.

The groups said that the Republic of Belarus Bar Association and regional bar associations cannot be considered independent autonomous bodies representing the interests of all lawyers in Belarus, given the control over the formation of the Belarusian lawyers’ executive body and its work.

In 2021, the Republic of Belarus Law on the Practice of Lawyers was significantly amended, and lawyers can no longer work alone or open law firms. Instead, they must join legal advisory offices, which are established and supervised by local bar associations in coordination with the Ministry of Justice.

The Belarusian government should immediately cease politically motivated prosecutions and all harassment and attacks on lawyers, ensuring that they can perform their duties without interference or fear of reprisals. The Belarusian Bar Association should cease politically motivated reprisals against its members, protect the interests of lawyers and their clients, and uphold the independence of the legal profession.

International actors should call on the Belarusian authorities to live up to their international obligations, stop using justice as a tool of repression, release all political prisoners, and ensure that Belarusian lawyers face no obstacles in fulfilling their professional duties and safeguarding the best interests of their clients.

“The Belarusian Bar Association has failed to protect the legal profession in Belarus and has become a tool of the state agenda and repression,” said Maxim Paravenka, an expert at the Right to Defense Project. “Instead, they have become a reliable tool of the state and have shown a great willingness to participate in the authorities’ politically motivated reprisals against lawyers.”