An interactive dialogue with the Group of Independent Experts on the human rights situation in Belarus took place during the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council. Group Chair Karinna Moskalenko, with Susan Bazilli and Monika Płatek, delivered an oral update under Council resolution 61/26.
The meeting is available on UN Web TV (17th meeting of the 63rd HRC session). The Human Rights Centre Viasna covered the dialogue; the Group’s findings are set out in an OHCHR press release and conference room paper A/HRC/63/CRP.1 (14 September 2026).
Not isolated abuses — a system
The experts’ core finding is blunt: Belarusian authorities are using the criminal justice system as an instrument of repression. Since 1 May 2020, police, the KGB, GUBOPiK, the Investigative Committee, prosecutors and the judiciary have acted in concert against people whom dictator Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s regime treats — or “perceives” — as opponents.
“What emerges is not a picture of isolated violations, but of a system in which State institutions have systematically been used to suppress dissent and fundamental freedoms. Criminal justice processes are an integral part of a broader machinery of repression. Their impacts are felt not only by those arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned, but by an entire society being warned about the price of dissent,” said Group Chair Karinna Moskalenko.
Arrests are often arbitrary and violent: no warrants, beatings, stress positions, denial of lawyers, forced “repentance” videos under threats to families. Temporary detention centres — including Okrestina — mean overcrowding, filth, sleep deprivation, psychological abuse and medical neglect. Gender-specific abuses are documented: invasive strip searches of women in front of male guards, denial of menstrual hygiene products.
From investigation to “yellow tags”
Once charges are filed, prosecutors routinely authorize pre-trial detention for up to two years. Trials of opponents, journalists and human rights defenders systematically breach fair-trial guarantees: lawyers are disbarred or jailed, motions dismissed, hearings closed, defendants held in metal cages. Appeals almost always uphold convictions. Trials in absentia against people abroad are increasing — without proper notice or defence.
In colonies, political prisoners are marked with yellow tags, barred from education and religious activity, hit with fabricated disciplinary charges, and held in punishment cells — “torture by cold,” sleep and food deprivation. Cases of full incommunicado detention lasting more than two years are documented. The Viasna Human Rights Centre was deliberately targeted: its leaders endured long detention, then forced expulsion without valid IDs.
Persecution does not end on release. Courts impose preventive supervision for years more: night raids, electronic checks, movement bans, re-arrest for minor schedule breaches. Many victims and families are forced into exile.
“Releases are important for those who regain their freedom, but they cannot be mistaken for an end to repression. The underlying system that enabled these violations remains in place, and accountability is still urgently needed,” said expert Monika Płatek.
Figures — and the lives behind them
The Group’s mandate runs from 1 May 2020: investigation and evidence preservation (HRC resolutions 55/27, 58/19, 61/26). Its secretariat is cut by about 40% because of the UN liquidity crisis — but the conclusions are not softened. The conference room paper again finds that some violations, committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack on a segment of the civilian population, amount to the crimes against humanity of persecution and imprisonment.
Belarus still refuses access: a June 2026 note verbale requesting a visit and a September draft of the paper went unanswered. At the 18 September dialogue, the “country concerned” spoke for the regime.
“The international community must not look away. Those responsible for serious human rights violations must know that impunity is not a permanent shield, and victims must know that their rights have not been forgotten,” said expert Susan Bazilli.
What the experts demand
To Belarus: immediately end violations and release everyone held on politically motivated charges; investigate abuses; hold complicit officials in courts, law enforcement and prisons to account; provide full reparation; grant access to the Group and the Special Rapporteur.
To UN Member States: refugee protection for victims and those forcibly expelled; prosecute alleged perpetrators under extraterritorial and universal jurisdiction; fund documentation and evidence preservation — with priority on officials who acted without independence or regard for law.
Behind every figure in the reports is a person. Behind every “release” by the regime is a question: has the system been freed from impunity? Not yet.