Belarus

In the afternoon of 24 February 2022, unknown persons in civilian clothes broke into the In the afternoon of 24 February 2022, unknown persons in civilian clothes broke into the office of the Free Metalworkers’ Union (SPM) without presenting documents, searched the office, and seized office equipment and mobile phones from the office management and employees. The SPM deputy chairman, Aleksandr Evdokimchik, was arrested and taken away to an undisclosed location. Earlier in the morning, the executive committee of BKDP, the national trade union centre and ITUC affiliate, could not get in touch with Igor Komlik, the lawyer of the trade union who, it was later revealed, was also arrested by law enforcement agencies.

On the morning of 21 September 2021, law enforcement agencies searched the apartment of Volha Brytsikava, local leader of the primary trade union organisation of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BITU) at JSC Naftan. Her computer was seized and she was arrested and detained. Two more BITU members, Andrey Berezovsky and Roman Shkodin, were arrested and detained for seven and 15 days, respectively.

At Grodno Azot, the vice chairperson of the BITU local union, Valiantsin Tseranevich, and BITU members Andrei Paheryla, Vladimir Zhurauka, Grigory Ruban, Dmitry Ilyushenko and Aleksey Sidor were detained by the police.

In Zhlobin, Aliaksandr Hashnikau, secretary treasurer of the BITU primary branch at the Belarusian Metallurgical Plant BMZ, was arrested on 17 September 2021 and arbitrarily detained. According to his wife, he disappeared in mid-September and was located a week later.

BITU president Maksim Pazniakou was detained on 17 September but later released and fined US$350 for a social media post from 2020, featuring a Belarusian music group, later labelled by authorities as extremist.

In Belarus, on 5 March 2021, officers of the District Department of Interior in the City of Minsk disrupted the founding conference of the students’ free trade unions. Breaking into the facility in plain clothes with masked faces and no insignia, they resorted to violence, apprehending several participants of the meeting who were later on sentenced to 15 days of detention for “defying a legitimate instruction of an officer”. To justify this violent interference, the authorities claimed that the event was held by an illegal organisation. Yet the Free Trade Union of Belarus, which had organised the conference, is an officially registered and a functioning organisation.

On 18 May 2021, the Bobruisk District and City Court convicted the chair of the workplace union at the JSC “Belshina” (tyre works), Sergei Gurlo. Gurlo was found guilty of violation of Article 369 of the criminal code for “insulting a law enforcement officer on social media”, which he allegedly did in 2020. Sergei was sentenced to 18 months of restriction of freedom in a clear attempt to restrict the right to expression of a trade union leader. The case was tried in closed hearing, and Sergei was forced to sign a non-disclosure document concerning the criminal case materials.

On 8 June 2021, President Alexander Lukashenko signed new legislation that punishes those accused of participating in unauthorised demonstrations with imprisonment of up to three years. Those who are found to have participated in or promoted "extremist activity" would face up to six years in jail. The definition of “extremist activity” was not clearly defined in the new legislation, and fear arose that the new provisions would be used to suppress any dissent. This new law follows laws enacted on 24 May 2021 making it compulsory to obtain a permit from the authorities to organise mass events and prohibiting journalists from reporting live from such events.

On 22 July 2021, the Belarusian Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court to liquidate the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ). BAJ has been accused by the government of violating the legislation on national workers’ associations. The application for dissolution of the BAJ was approved by the Supreme Court on 27 August 2021. BAJ was the only independent representative organisation of journalists and media workers in Belarus and one of the country’s most prominent champions of freedom of expression.

On 15 June 2021, officers of the Minsk City Department of Interior made a search of the private house of the SPB vice president, Gennadiy Bykov. On 14 July 2021, officers of the Polotsk District Department of Interior searched the apartment of the president of the Free Trade Union of Belarus, Nikolai Sharakh. On 21 July 2021, the authorities searched the house of the chair of the SPB Internal Auditing Committee, Victor Stukov.

On 8 July 2021, four prominent members of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union at JSC Naftan in Navapolatsk had their homes searched and two were detained. The leaders whose homes were searched were trade union lawyer Aliaksandr Kapshul, deputy chairperson of the primary organisation Jury Hashau; deputy chairperson Dzianis Hurski; and secretary-treasurer Dzmitry Koyra. Hursky and Koyra were detained for 72 hours and then released. The authorities alleged that the searches and detentions were in relation to a criminal case about the damage of the paintwork on Siarhei Brykun's car, which occurred in October 2020.

On 26 June 2021, officers of the State Security Committee searched the regional office of the Belorussian Radio Electronics Workers’ Union (REPU) in Brest. On 16 July 2021, law enforcement officers appeared at REPU’s headquarters in Minsk and broke down the door and sealed the other. Later on, the law enforcement officers claimed that they were investigating another organisation and that the search had nothing to do with the activities of the REPU. This was the second time in six months that the Minsk headquarters of REPU were raided. On 16 February 2021, State Security had already searched the premises and seized communications and other equipment and documents. The homes of several REPU activists were searched at the same time. Law enforcement officers claimed the searches were a part of the investigation into the funding of the union.

On 8 June 2021, the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, signed new legislation that punishes those accused of participating in unauthorised demonstrations with imprisonment of up to three years. Those who are found to have participated in or promoted "extremist activity" face up to six years in jail. The definition of “extremist activity” is not clearly defined in the new legislation, and there is fear that the new provisions will be used to suppress any dissent. This new law follows laws enacted on 24 May 2021 making it compulsory to obtain a permit from the authorities to organise mass events.