Aliaksandr Lukashenka once again denied the existence of political prisoners in Belarus during talks with U.S. President’s Special Envoy John Coale. He also stressed that he had no need to imprison people for political reasons because all processes in the country were under control. At the same time, Lukashenka said he would continue imprisoning those who violate the law.
“John, and one more remark. There has been a lot of talk ahead of our meeting here about the release of what you call political prisoners. Although I urge you once again not to be misled. There are no political prisoners in Belarus because there is no such article in our legislation.
But there is a lot of talk about it: about releasing people who, as you, as a lawyer and an attorney, understand perfectly well, are legally under investigation or in correctional labor colonies.
I am bringing you to the main issue. Our fugitives are promoting this issue in the West, and I feel, according to my information, that they have convinced you that while we are releasing some people here, we are continuing the repression and detaining twice as many people to replace them. I want to tell you publicly that this is absolutely untrue.
We have no goal of sending new people to correctional labor colonies instead of those who have been released. We have no such problem, we do not do this and we will not do it. These are our Belarusians.
But if any citizen of Belarus or any non-citizen present here violates Belarusian laws, we will certainly respond in accordance with the law. And if they deserve to be under investigation or in correctional labor colonies, they will remain there. But this is absolutely unrelated to politics. We have no need to persecute anyone politically today. There is absolutely no need because all processes in Belarus are under control,” he said.
The Criminal Code of Belarus contains a number of articles that are more often than others used by the authorities to hand down sentences to people whom human rights defenders subsequently recognize as political prisoners. These include articles providing for liability for insulting Lukashenka, insulting government officials, inciting hatred, assisting and financing extremism, and participating in extremist groups. Belarus also uses terrorism and high treason charges to persecute Lukashenka’s opponents. Today, Belarusian human rights organizations recognized another 11 people as political prisoners. Their sentences include, among others, the articles listed above.
