UN Experts Demand Release of Detained Belarus Protesters with Disabilities

UN Experts Demand Release of Detained Belarus Protesters with Disabilities

The experts stated that these men are enduring ill-treatment known to cause grave and irreversible harm.

By RMN News Service

Independent human rights experts have issued an urgent call for the release of political prisoners with disabilities and serious health conditions held in Belarus. Many were convicted following the 2020 presidential elections on charges stemming from various forms of civil disobedience.

The experts expressed horror at reports detailing “appalling detention conditions, lack of proper medical care and deliberate ill-treatment” of these prisoners. They warn that continued detention under current circumstances could result in irreparable and permanent harm to their health.

As of March 2025, human rights defenders recognised at least seven inmates with disabilities and 78 inmates suffering chronic and grave acute diseases as political prisoners in Belarus. Reports indicate these individuals are not receiving appropriate medical care or adequate detention conditions and are subject to intentional ill-treatment.

Specific concerns were raised in a letter sent to Belarusian authorities on 17 April 2025, highlighting the ill-treatment of Andrei Navitski and Dzianis Salmanovich, two men with disabilities detained since 2021. Navitski, reportedly arrested after a peaceful assembly, faces charges including violating public order and insulting the President. Salmanovich is serving a sentence related to producing films for a civil initiative, charged with terrorism and extremism.

[ UN Experts Raise Alarm Over Alleged ‘Punitive Psychiatry’ Against Dissenters in Belarus ]

The experts stated that these men are enduring ill-treatment known to cause grave and irreversible harm. They are also reportedly nearly entirely deprived of communication with their families, leaving loved ones in distress. The treatment of both the prisoners and their families was described as inhumane. The experts urged Belarusian authorities to immediately end the practice of incommunicado detentions, which increases the risk of enforced disappearance, and ensure regular communication for all detainees.

The letter also mentioned a reported case of female prisoners being denied medical care, including a woman who developed an impairment due to forced labour in unhealthy conditions despite protesting her unwellness.

While Belarusian authorities released prisoners with certain disabilities and grave illnesses through an amnesty on 2 July 2024, and amended a law on 17 February 2025 to potentially exempt such persons from detention, these initiatives do not apply to individuals labelled “extremists”. This label, according to the experts, is routinely imposed on those convicted in relation to the 2020 protests.

The experts reiterated their call for Belarusian authorities to consider the immediate release or non-custodial sanctions for all political prisoners connected to the 2020 events who have disabilities or illnesses, in order to prevent permanent and grave damage to their lives and health.