A lawyer for the Office of People with Disabilities

Cases
Case status
Unresolved
Location of case in SG report
2021-005-003
Relevant SG report
Year of the report
2021
Country Geolocation

Latitude: 53.709807

Longitude: 27.953389

Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
Belarus
From Region
UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
  • UN Special Procedures: Country
  • UN Special Procedures: Thematic
  • UN Special Procedures: UN Special Procedures - General
Dates of prior UN action
21 March 2021, 19 March 2021
Type of record
Unnamed individual/group/organization
Gender
Gender unclear
Was the victim a foreign national?
No
Was the victim a minor?
No
Individual's/organization's activity

Lawyer for the organisation.

Type of rights defended
  • Economic/social rights
  • Other
Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
No
Reported trigger of reprisal

Cooperation with the UN

Engagement with UN body
  • Unclear
Dates of engagement
Unclear
Type of attempted engagement
  • Unclear
Dates of mentioned reprisals
21 January 2021, 3 February 2021, 3 February 2021
Location of mentioned reprisals
Belarus
Reprisal information

Mr. Drozdovskiy, along with a lawyer for the organization, were reportedly questioned by the DFI. The Committee of State Control reportedly explained that the questioning was part of an investigation for possible misappropriation of charitable donations and international funding (BLR 4/2021). On 2 February 2021, Mr. Drozdovskiy and a lawyer of the organization were reportedly questioned again, during which time they were insulted and threatened, and on 3 February 2021, they were both arrested. Their lawyers signed a non-disclosure agreement, preventing them from publicly discussing details of the case. On 11 February, Mr. Drozdovskiy was charged on suspicion of having committed “fraud” (Article 209 of the Criminal Code), placed under house arrest, and restricted to only communicate with his lawyer (BLR 4/2021).

Types of reprisals suffered
  • Charge/Investigation/Prosecution: Charge/Investigation/Prosecution - General
  • Detention/Imprisonment: Detention/Imprisonment - General
  • Surveillance
  • Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
Alleged/likely perpetrators
State actors
Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
No
Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
Yes
Further case development

Mandate holders expressed concerns, including publicly on 19 March 2021,5 that the investigations of the work of the NGO, the charges against its director and lawyer, and the alleged ill-treatment could be a reprisal for their cooperation with the UN. The mandate holders raised concerns over the increasing number of cases where human rights defenders were bound by non-disclosure agreements which, when used inappropriately, can criminalise the sharing of information and observations on human rights (BLR 4/2021).

The lawyer of the organization is currently held in remand prison-1 at Volodarskiy 2 (Minsk), and his detention was extended until 3 August 2021(BLR 4/2021).

Government response dates
13 August 2021
Government response content

On 13 August 2021, the Government responded to the note verbale sent in connection to the present report noting that the allegations were unsubstantiated statements used to justify political pressure on Belarus under the pretext of human rights concerns. The Government stated that the Public Association Human Rights Centre Viasna is a liquidated legal entity since a Supreme Court decision in 2003 and their activity is prohibited. The Government noted that some individuals associated with Viasna were investigated by the Investigative Committee of Belarus in February 2021 in a case under article 342 of the Criminal Code for allegedly violating public order. As such, searches were carried out at the places of stay of some of these individuals and they were found to have been involved in criminal activity under article 342, as well as under article 243 (tax evasion).

Was the case raised by a State at the UN?
No
Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
No
Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
No
Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
Yes
How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
1
In which SG report was this case followed up on? 0
2022
Follow up information provided in SG report 0

In September 2021, mandate holders addressed the dissolution of several NGOs on 23 July 2021, including the Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The case of this NGO working on the rights of persons with disabilities was included in the 2021 report of the Secretary-General on allegations of raids, seizure of equipment, criminalization, and ill-treatment of its director for cooperation with the UN (BLR 8/2021). The dissolution of the Office of Persons with Disabilities was also addressed by the Special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus in her 2022 report to the Human Rights Council.

Followup Trends 0
Stayed same
Date of follow up 0
September 2021, June 2021
Was this case followed up by a UN body? 0
  • UN Special Procedures: Country