Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Belarus.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Belarus. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Belarus U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/belarus/
[accessed 5 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT The human rights
NGO Vyasna documented more than 500 cases of
torture and other severe abuse committed in police custody against
postelection protest participants and independent election observers,
opposition leaders, civil society activists, and average citizens. Among the abuses
documented were severe beatings; psychological humiliation; the use of stress
positions; at least one reported case of rape and sexual abuse; use of
electric shock devices and tear gas; and up to three days intentional
deprivation of food, drinking water, hygiene products, the use of toilets,
sleep, and medical assistance. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Physical
Conditions: According to former detainees and human rights lawyers, there
continued to be shortages of food, medicine, warm clothing, personal hygiene
products, and bedding as well as inadequate access to basic or emergency
medical care and clean drinking water. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/belarus/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 14 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Law enforcement
agencies have broad powers to employ physical force against suspects, who
have little opportunity for recourse if they are abused. Human rights groups
continue to document instances of beatings, torture, and pressure during detention. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] BELARUS ARRESTS AND
HARASSMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AND CRITICS - In June, a court
found Andrei Bandarenka, who leads the human rights
group Platform Innovation, guilty on spurious criminal hooliganism charges
and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment. Bandarenka
previously headed a prison monitoring group that authorities dissolved in
October 2012 for alleged tax violations. Rights groups believe that Bandarenka’s prosecution was in retaliation for his human
rights work. According to rights
groups, seven people remain in detention following politically motivated
prosecutions. These prisoners are regularly subjected to undue restrictions
on correspondence and meetings with families, psychological pressure, and
other forms of ill-treatment as punishments. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/BLR/CO/4
(2011) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/belarus2011.html [accessed 22
February 2013] 10. The Committee
is deeply concerned over the numerous and consistent allegations of widespread
torture and ill-treatment of detainees in the State party. According to the
reliable information presented to the Committee, many persons deprived of
their liberty are tortured, ill-treated and threatened by law enforcement
officials, especially at the moment of apprehension and during pretrial
detention. These confirm the concerns expressed by a number of international
bodies, inter alia, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Human Rights Council
(resolution 17/24), the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. While noting article
25 of the Constitution which prohibits torture, the Committee is concerned
about the substantial gap between the legislative framework and its practical
implementation (arts. 2, 4, 12 and 16). 11. The Committee
continues to be deeply concerned about the persistent and prevailing pattern
of failure of officials to conduct prompt, impartial and full investigations
into the many allegations of torture and ill-treatment and to prosecute
alleged perpetrators, the lack of independent investigation and complaint
mechanisms, the intimidation of the judiciary, the low level of cooperation
with international monitoring bodies, which have led to serious
underreporting and impunity (arts. 2,
11, 12, 13 and 16). 13. While noting
the information on the detention monitoring activities by the Office of the
Procurator-General, the national public watchdog commission of the Ministry
of Justice and local watchdog commissions, the Committee is deeply concerned
by the reported lack of independence of the national monitoring system and
the lack of information on effective procedures and reporting practices. The
Committee also regrets reports on the alleged misuse of psychiatric
hospitalization for other reasons than medical ones, and the lack of
inspection of psychiatric hospitals (arts. 2, 11 and 16). Human Rights
Overview Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/europecentral-asia/belarus [accessed 21 January
2013] The increasingly
repressive government of Aliaxander Lukashenka
continues to clamp down on dissent in Belarus. Human rights defenders, civil
society activists, and independent journalists are routinely persecuted for
expressing any signs of discontent with the authorities. Hundreds of
pro-democracy participants have been punished with administrative or criminal
sanctions, frequently in absence of sufficient evidence of an offence having
been committed. Violations of detainees’ due process rights, including access
to defense counsel, are widespread. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT
- There was no independent system of monitoring places of detention.
Complaints against law enforcement officers were usually rejected by
prosecutors, and those who complained faced reprisals from police. On 28 February,
after being released on bail, Alyaksei Mihalevich, a presidential candidate charged with
organizing a demonstration in Minsk on 19 December 2010, held a press
conference. He alleged that he and other detainees had been subjected to TORTURE
AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT - , including being strip-searched up to six times a
day, and being forced to stand in stress positions. Zmitser Dashkevich, who was sentenced to two years’ hard labour on 24 March in connection with the demonstration
in December 2010, was placed in solitary confinement eight times during the
year. Conditions in solitary confinement include being denied exercise,
refused bedding and deprived of sleep. Prisoners are also prevented from
lying or sitting on bunks during the day. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=belarus+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 25 December
2018] ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61638.htm [accessed 21 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61638.htm [accessed 3 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, police and prison guards on occasion beat
detainees and prisoners. On March 11, a
police officer in Orsha seriously beat Vasiliy Sinkovsky, detained on
suspicion of theft, breaking four of his ribs and piercing a lung. Criminal
charges were filed against the officer for abusing his authority. At his May 31
trial, opposition party leader Nikolay Statkevich
claimed that, after his arrest, he was placed in a cell with a prisoner
suffering from dysentery (see section 1.e.). He also complained that
authorities did not provide him food for the first day of his detention. Mogilev police
detained youth Zubr activist Evegeniy
Suvorov without charge on August 28. Suvorov complained that his hands and
feet were shackled behind him and he was held overnight and bent backwards in
the "swallow" stress position. Suvorov had previously been arrested
for distributing independent newspapers. There were no
reports of police coercing confessions through beatings or psychological
pressure during the year. Police and
plainclothes officers occasionally beat individuals while arresting them or
holding them in detention for organizing or participating in public
demonstrations (see section 2.b.). In October 2004 police used truncheons and
other force to break up a protest following the constitutional referendum and
arrested at least 150 protesters. Police severely beat United Civic Party
(UCP) leader Anatolyy Lebedko
and a journalist. There were credible
reports that, in March, authorities allowed imprisoned opposition activist
Mikhail Marinich to remain in his prison bed for
three days after suffering a stroke before providing him medical treatment
(see section 1.d.). Credible reports
indicated that police and prison officials continued to mistreat and torture
prisoners. Reports from the Mozyr prison in
particular claimed that beatings and mistreatment were common practices.
Additionally, human rights groups reported prisoners did not receive adequate
food, sufficiently warm clothing in winter, and were often denied a bed. As a
result, tuberculosis, pneumonia and other diseases were widespread. On March 14, guards
at the Mozyr prison severely beat prisoner Ramazan Mamedbekov, reportedly
on orders from warden Yury Zborovskoy,
for refusing to perform unpaid work. On March 24, prison guards used
excessive force against five convicts in Mozyr, in
the process of which Major Shulga reportedly broke
the arm of one prisoner. In protest of this abuse, 50 convicts went on a
hunger strike. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 7 Civil Liberties: 6 Status: Not Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/belarus [accessed 21 January
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 11 May
2020] Although the
country’s constitution calls for judicial independence, courts are subject to
significant government influence. The right to a fair trial is often not
respected in cases with political overtones. The police in Belarus use
excessive force, according to UN Special Rapporteur Adrian Severin. Human rights groups continue to document
instances of beatings, torture, and inadequate protection during detention in
cases involving leaders of the democratic opposition. U.S. Library of Congress - Country Study 1995 Library of Congress
Call Number DK507.23 .B45 1995 www.loc.gov/collections/country-studies/?q=DK507.23+.B45+ [accessed 19 July
2017] INTERNAL SECURITY -
HUMAN RIGHTS
– There have been many reports of beatings of prisoners, mainly in Hrodna prison, by prison guards or with their complicity.
Although such actions are against the law, it is rare for the government to
punish perpetrators. Amnesty International has been denied access to the
prison routinely, on grounds of security. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
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