Anger, but not surprise, after Nobel winning Belarusian activist jailed for 10 years
Ales Bialiatski, one of the country's top human rights defenders, sentenced for financing protests
Belarusian human rights advocate Uladzimir Vialichkin still has hope for the future of his country, even as his esteemed colleague begins a 10-year prison sentence.
Ales Bialiatski, a top human rights advocate in Belarus and one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, was sentenced on Friday, along with three of his colleagues.
Bialiatski is the founder of Viasna, a human rights organization that, according to last year's Nobel Prize committee, "documented and protested against the authorities' use of torture against political prisoners."
He and his co-defenders — Vladimir Labkovich, Valentin Stefanovich and Dzmitry Salauyou — were convicted of financing anti-government protests.
They were charged after massive 2020 protests over the election that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a new term in office. Tens of thousands of people were arrested in those protests, and Viasna provided money to the political prisoners and helped pay their legal fees.
Vialichkin is a member of Viasna who is living in exile in Lithuania, waiting for the day it's safe to go home again. Here is part of his conversation with As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
Were you surprised by the prison sentences handed down today?
I wasn't surprised because this sentence was predictable and everybody knew the results.
Even though you weren't surprised, what emotions went through your heart and mind when you heard?
Certainly, I am angry. And I am angry with this sentence because ... they ... fought for human rights in Belarus for many years.
And people also are angry, but not surprised. Because all the courts are not just.
The court sentenced Mr. Bialiatski and his colleagues for financing "actions grossly violating public order." What do these words mean to you?
Human rights defenders do not finance, but they help people ... so such a formula is not correct.
When you say anger, clearly that anger is directed at the courts. But who else are you angry at?
Who is angry? Maybe you are speaking about Lukashenko. He is the most offended person in the country, so he tries to [take] revenge [on] everybody, every citizen in Belarus ... not only human rights defenders, but all politicians, public leaders, activists — everybody.
Lukashenko has been trying to silence Viasna and Mr. Bialiatski for years now. Why is he so focused on your group and on Mr. Bialiatski?
He's focused on Bialiatski and the leaders of human rights defenders in Belarus because of one simple thing. Because all politicians are in prisons; all public activists are in prisons. [They] prosecuted ordinary people for their thoughts, for their words … even children. So they focus now on human rights defenders because it was the last organized force in Belarus which fought for democracy.
We've spoken about Belarus and its prisons on this program before, but I know you have experience with those prisons as well. Can you give our listeners an idea of what it is like for your friends and colleagues in those prisons?
Conditions in the prisons today is very drastic.
The administrations of the different places of detention treat political prisoners in different ways, simply because they are ordered to treat them maximally tough.
Would they face beatings or torture? Is that what you mean?
Sometimes, yes, there are such examples.
They killed one person, [jailed protester] Vitold Ashurak. He was beaten to death. And after that, because people knew about it ... they stopped such cruel methods.
But there are other methods. For example, they do not allow [people to] communicate with political prisoners … so they make them wear special marks like the Jews during the Second World War, so they're seen from afar and other prisoners do not approach such political persons and don't communicate with them.
[Editor's Note: Lukashenko's regime has not acknowledged or commented on Ashurak's death.]
How dangerous is it for you and others to oppose Lukashenko's government, even when you're outside the country?
[Lithuania is of interest to] Russian security forces and Belarusian security forces. Because in this country [there are] many .. public activists from Russia and Belarus. So they try to search [for] these people.
So how do you stay safe?
[Anything] is better than when I was in Belarus when I was followed by strange people.
Do you have hope for things to improve in your country?
Certainly, I have such hope.
How do you keep that hope?
Because I see that people are not frightened. Simply, they got acquainted to not speak much, but to understand each other better without words.
We see that the partisan movement ... continues to work in Belarus. There is military units in Ukraine with Belarusians.
The [government in exile] cabinet of [opposition leader] Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who tried to organize all these movements, she's treated and considered to be president elect in comparison with Lukashenko.
So there are moments which give hope that Belarus can change. And earlier or later, democracy will [prevail].
With files from The Associated Press. Interview produced by Kevin Robertson. Edited for length and clarity.
