The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has accused the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of committing “crimes against humanity” in the country, according to a report published this Friday.
Human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, torture and sexual violence against detainees, “are part of a campaign of violence and deliberate repression directed against government opponents or people expressing critical views” by the Belarusian executive, the document said.
The report was prepared based on interviews with 207 victims and witnesses, but without the cooperation of Belarusian authorities, which do not allow United Nations investigators to enter the country, OHCHR spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell said at a news conference. .
It includes violations of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, in a country where “civil space has been virtually destroyed,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said in a statement.
The document recalled that Belarusian authorities have closed down 797 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and that the rest, about 400, have ceased their activities for fear of persecution.
So did most independent media after some of them were accused of being “extremists”.
The Association of Journalists of Belarus has also ceased its activities, the report said.
The document urged United Nations member states to consider the principles of universal jurisdiction when seeking accountability for human rights violations in Belarus.
In that country, “the terrible practice of prosecuting and punishing individuals for carrying out legitimate work in defense of human rights continues,” Türk said, recalling the recent convictions of the opposition leader-in-exile Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and the activist and winner of the the Nobel Peace Prize Prize Ales Bialatski.
The report, prepared at the request of the UN Human Rights Council, focuses on abuses that took place between May 2020 [ano de protestos em massa devido a suposta fraude eleitoral nas eleições presidenciais de agosto daquele ano] and December 2022.
The document underlined that the violent crackdown on protesters in 2020 was “approved at the highest level by the government, which coordinated and openly instigated it”, using disproportionate force that caused at least five deaths, although “the actual number is much could be higher”. .
The report documented more than a hundred cases of sexual and gender-based violence against detainees, another number that may be higher than reported.
The UN body added that the Belarusian legal system has been systematically used “against opposition figures, ‘bloggers’, journalists, human rights defenders, trade union leaders and lawyers”.
Source: DN
