Human Rights Watch demands to release Oleg Volchek

The Belarusian government should immediately release the prominent human rights defender Oleg Volchek, Human Rights Watch said today.

Volchek is serving a nine-day sentence after a trial raising serious due process concerns.

Volchek, the head of the human rights organization Legal Assistance to the Public, was detained on May 24, 2012. Human Rights Watch expressed concern that Volchek’s arrest may have been in retaliation for criticizing the government and for meeting with a Human Rights Watch researcher the day before.

“The dubious prosecution of Oleg Volchek is a prime example of the government tightening its grip on civil society,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to stop harassing human rights defenders and allow civil society groups to operate free from repression.”

Volchek was standing on the street not far from his house in Minsk, the capital, talking to a colleague on May 24, when three policemen in civilian clothing approached them, introduced themselves, and told him to follow them to a police precinct for “further explanation.” They did not present a warrant or official summons.

Human Rights Watch has previously criticized Belarusian authorities for harassing opposition activists, stripping human rights lawyers of their license to practice law, and expelling or barring foreign human rights activists from entering the country. More than 10 Belarusian citizens, predominantly opposition activists, human rights defenders, and journalists, have recently been barred from leaving Belarus under various pretexts.

“The arrest and conviction of Oleg Volchek is nothing more than a poorly disguised attempt of the Belarusian authorities to intimidate and ultimately silence another voice of dissent,” Williamson said. “It is a perversion of the rule of law for the government to use the courts as a tool of repression against its critics.”