Belarus: Authorities threatening women political activists ahead of election
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka seeking re-election next month for sixth consecutive term
Activists threatened that their children will be taken into state custody, and with sexual violence
‘These deeply disturbing patterns are no doubt fuelled by the state-sponsored misogyny so apparent in Belarus ahead of the August election’ - Marie Struthers
Belarusian authorities are “deliberately targeting” women activists and female family members of political opposition to silence their opponents, Amnesty International said today [17 July].
Authorities have been targeting women with gender-specific reprisals, including threats to take their children into state custody as well as threats of sexual violence.
Ahead of the presidential election on 9 August, Amnesty is calling on authorities to end their vicious campaign and halt their crackdown on all dissent.
Threats to seize children
Authorities have been threatening to take children away from women political activists and from families of jailed opposition members, using a presidential decree which outlines “measures to protect children in disadvantaged families”.
When Vitalia Navumik’s husband – political activist Uladzimir Navumik – was arrested for purported “hooliganism” on 29 May, her flat in the city of Hrodna was searched by police, who then filed an unfounded report with the local educational services about “poor living conditions of the child”.
Vitalia told Amnesty: “According to the police, our apartment was messy, with cigarette butts and empty alcohol bottles lying around. Except it wasn’t true and a video made [by police] during the search can prove it. But it was never provided as evidence.
“When during the inspection they told me that my daughter could be taken away, I was so horrified that I didn’t even know what to say or how to react. I just stood there in front of them, too shocked to talk.”
Threats of sexual violence
On at least one occasion, the female partner of a political activist was reportedly threatened with gang rape by the police while she was in the police station.
Violetta, the partner of Dmitry Lukomsky, was filming the policemen who came to their house looking for him and who then took her to the police station for questioning.
She told Amnesty: “They asked me why I had tried to film their visits to my home and their spying on me, and I replied that I had wanted to protect myself. So, one of them said: ‘Well, right now you are not videotaping us and we can all rape you and you won’t be able to prove it’.”
Authorities have also been using other forms of gender-based discrimination against women activists in Belarus, including disproportionately heavy fines, and not allowing basic items of personal hygiene such as sanitary towels for women detained for participation in peaceful rallies.
Presidential election
The presidential election is scheduled to take place on 9 August. Incumbent Alyaksandr Lukashenka is seeking re-election for a sixth consecutive term.
His political rivals are facing severe reprisals. Two aspiring presidential candidates, Viktar Babaryka and Syarhei Tsikhanouski, were arbitrarily arrested and are currently remanded as criminal suspects on unfounded charges.
The wife of the latter, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, entered the presidential race instead. She, along with other women political activists, has faced harassment and intimidation.
Hundreds of her supporters and supporters of other opposition candidates, as well as other activists, have been arrested and subjected to ill-treatment. Many have been issued with fines or so-called ‘administrative detention’ lasting for days and sometime weeks at a time.
Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:
“Insatiable in their intention to silence their political opponents and any form of dissent, the Belarusian authorities are wheeling out practices that smack of misogyny.
“They are deliberately targeting women involved in politics or female family members of political activists, including with open discrimination and threats of sexual violence.
“With the election just a month away, women activists not only pose a formidable challenge to the incumbent but also face President Lukashenka’s openly misogynistic remarks broadcast on prime-time national television.
“These deeply disturbing patterns are no doubt fuelled by the state-sponsored misogyny so apparent in Belarus ahead of the August election. Political reprisals which seek to spread fear and despair, and those that specifically target women, must end immediately.”