The UN Human Rights Council released a report on Friday on the human rights situation in Belarus during and after the country’s presidential election in 2020. It concludes that the crime against humanity of persecution may have been committed in Belarus. The report, which is the advance unedited version, presents evidence on a wide range [...]
Search Results for: Lukashenko
Belarus dispatch: activist accused of tax evasion faces extradition from Serbia to Belarus
Belarusian law students enrolled at European Humanities University are filing reports with JURIST on current circumstances in Belarus under the constitutionally-disputed presidency of Alexander Lukashenka. Katsiaryna Vasilionak files this dispatch from Vilnius, Lithuania. Andrey Gnyot was arrested on October 30, 2023, by the border service of the Republic of Serbia upon arrival in the [...]
Belarus authorities report foiled sabotage attempts near Ukrainian border
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Friday that the country’s security forces had thwarted an alleged sabotage attempt near the border with Ukraine. During the general assembly of Belkoopsoyuz, the national union of consumer societies, held in the capital city of Minsk, Lukashenko provided detailed information about the arrested individuals. He reported that the group had [...]
Belarusian law students enrolled at European Humanities University are filing reports with JURIST on current circumstances in Belarus under the constitutionally-disputed presidency of Alexander Lukashenka. Katsiaryna Vasilionak files this dispatch from Vilnius, Lithuania. A decree on passports that came into effect late last year has effectively stranded tens of thousands of Belarusians living abroad who [...]
Belarus refuses to invite OSCE observers to its upcoming election
Belarus’s permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Andrei Dapkiunas announced on Monday that Belarus would refrain from inviting observers from the OSCE to monitor the country’s upcoming parliamentary election. The election is currently scheduled for February 25. Dapkiunas explained that the decision has been taken due to certain geographical and [...]
Belarus president enacts stricter presidential candidate criteria and presidential immunity
The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko assented on Wednesday to comprehensive amendments to the law “On the President of the Republic of Belarus,” which tightened the requirements for a presidential candidate within the country. Under the amended law, only a person aged 40 years or older, who is a citizen of the Republic of Belarus by [...]
Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws, KC, is one of the UK’s most established lawyers, a bencher at Gray’s Inn and a member of the House of Lords. Kennedy is also a broadcaster, journalist and lecturer. She has not only acted in many of the most prominent cases of the last decade but has promoted civil [...]
Former Belarus special police officer acquitted in landmark Swiss trial
Former Belarusian military Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR) member Yuri Harauski was acquitted Thursday on charges of enforced disappearance in a decision made by the Swiss District Court of Rorschach. Harauski arrived in Switzerland and claimed asylum in 2019 on grounds that his life was in danger due to his role in the killings of [...]
Belarus court delivers prison sentence to journalist accused of facilitating 'extremist activities'
A court in Gomel, a southeastern city in Belarus, sentenced journalist Larysa Schchyrakova to 3.5 years in prison and a fine of 3,700 rubles (US$1465) on Thursday. She was accused of violating Article 369 and part 1 and 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code, which concern public insult to a government official in [...]
Belarusian law students enrolled at European Humanities University are filing reports with JURIST on current circumstances in Belarus under the constitutionally-disputed presidency of Alexander Lukashenka. Katsiaryna Vasilionak files this dispatch from Vilnius, Lithuania. During the period of June 23-24, the private military company Wagner, headed by Prigozhin, attempted an armed rebellion in Russia. Alexander Lukashenka [...]