Belarus using justice system to silence Lukashenko critics, say UN experts

In a report to be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council this week, the independent experts said courts, police, security services, prosecutors and prison authorities had all acted in a coordinated manner to silence real or perceived opponents.The Belarus mission to the Geneva-based Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment early on Tuesday.Belarus has previously rejected U.N. criticism of its human rights record and has not cooperated with the experts, according to the report. The experts said requests to visit the country and engage with authorities went unanswered.The experts on the rights situation in Belarus said they found "systematic" violations of international human rights obligations from the moment of arrest through detention, conviction and supervision after release.They cited arbitrary arrests, torture, denial of legal safeguards, closed trials and continued harassment of former detainees."The patterns of violations described in this paper continue to the present day," the report said, adding that the judiciary had played a critical role in sustaining the system by legitimising abuses and denying victims effective remedies.The experts said Belarus was responsible for violations of multiple international treaties and reiterated earlier findings that some abuses committed since May 2020 could amount to the crimes against humanity of persecution and imprisonment.The report was prepared by the U.N.'s Group of Independent Experts on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus, a three-member panel. They serve in their personal capacities rather than as representatives of governments or the U.N. Secretariat.The findings come six years after mass protests erupted following the August 2020 presidential election, which the opposition and Western governments said was rigged. Thousands of people were detained in the crackdown that followed and rights groups continue to document political prisoners in Belarus.Lukashenko denies ​holding political prisoners, describing the people concerned as "bandits", has denied electoral fraud and said authorities acted lawfully to restore order.Earlier this month, former political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski told Reuters that, despite recent prisoner releases secured through U.S. engagement with Minsk, "the machinery of repression keeps running" and new political prisoners continue to emerge.(Additional reporting by Gwladys Fouche and Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Andrew Heavens)