Criminal Code changes pave the way for large-scale reprisals, lawyer says

January 13, Pozirk. Pavieł Sapiełka, a lawyer with the Viasna Human Rights Center, has expressed concern about new changes to the Criminal Code that passed the House of Representatives last week, noting that the legislation paves the way for large-scale reprisals against critics.

In particular, Sapiełka, a former political prisoner, pointed to a significant expansion of articles that can be used to prosecute Belarusians for crimes allegedly committed abroad.

The list includes the following articles:

    • 130 – incitement to hatred

    • 130-1 – justification of Nazism

    • 130-2 – denial of the genocide against Belarusians

    • 289 – act of terrorism

    • 289-1 – propaganda of terrorism

    • 290 – threat to commit an act of terrorism

    • 290-1 – terrorism funding

    • 290-2 – supporting terrorist activity

    • 290-3 – undergoing training for terrorist activity

    • 290-4 – forming an organization for terrorist activity

    • 290-5 – organizing the activities of a terrorist group

    • 367 – defamation of the head of state

    • 369-1 – discrediting Belarus

    • 370 – insulting state symbols

    • 373 – intentional disclosure of state secrets

    • 374 – disclosure of state secrets through negligence

Sapiełka said judges had sentenced more than 3,500 people in Belarus on these charges.

He welcomed the proposal to stop imposing prison sentences on “women and single men raising children under 14 years of age or children with disabilities, people with Group I disabilities who have committed a non-violent crime for the first time that does not pose a great public danger or a less serious crime that did not result in the death of a person through negligence or serious bodily harm.”

However, the proposal would not apply to political activists persecuted on extremism-related charges.

He went on to say that the bill would authorize police to impose restrictions on those pardoned and require those under preventive supervision after prison to work or study.

The bill includes amendments to the Criminal, Criminal Procedure and Penal Codes, the Code of Administrative Offenses, and the Procedure Code for Administrative Offenses.