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International Day of the Endangered Lawyer 2025: The Persecution of Lawyers in Belarus

The persecution of lawyers in Belarus is the focus of attention during the 15th international Day of the Endangered Lawyer on 24 January 2025. This international day has been observed by lawyers around the world on the 24th of January every year since 2010.

Each year the focus is on a country where lawyers and legal professionals are at particular risk. In 2025 the focus is on Belarus.

This year’s coalition of 31 lawyers’ organizations around the world has documented the dire situation of Belarusian lawyers and legal professionals in a 34-page report released today.

A concerted attack on the independence of the Belarus legal system has been in progress since the country’s August 2020 presidential election. The election was widely considered to have been rigged in favour of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994. After the 2020 election, at least 100,000 people participated in daily protests in the capital, Minsk.

The Lukashenko government cracked down on the protests, arbitrarily detaining thousands and subjecting many to torture and ill-treatment. Four years later, there are 1,258 political prisoners in Belarus. Among them are lawyers, including criminal defence and human rights lawyers.

On 26 January 2025, Belarus goes to the polls again, and Lukashenko is expected secure a seventh five-year term. The opposition, largely in exile, is calling the election a sham.

Context: “Near-total destruction of civic space and fundamental freedoms in Belarus.”

Since 2020, the human rights situation in the country has deteriorated to a record low, according to then UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Belarus, Ms. Anaïs Marin (of France). Among the Special Rapporteur’s concerns is a decades-long pattern of “harassment of judges and lawyers,” with peaks of harassment in the context of elections. Ms. Marin’s October 2024 report to the UN General Assembly notes that “disbarments, arbitrary arrests and criminal convictions… have become widespread since 2020” along with numerous violations of fair trial guarantees. Ms. Marin was succeeded by Mr. Nils Muižniek (of Latvia) in November 2024.

The Office of the UN Human Rights Commission (OHCHR) reported in 2023 and again in 2024 that the systematic nature of violations may rise to the level of crimes against humanity, including the crime of persecution of people “in real or perceived opposition to the government.”

A newly appointed UN Group of Independent Experts on human rights in Belarus has been tasked to investigate and preserve evidence of violations in Belarus since May 2020. In its October 2024 statement to the UN Human Rights Council, the Group reported unabated repression and intimidation aimed at suppressing dissent, including the “near-total destruction of civic space and fundamental freedoms in Belarus.” The Group of Experts includes Canadian human rights lawyer Ms. Susan Bazilli, Dr. Monika Stanisława Płatek of Poland, and Russian human rights expert Ms. Karinna Moskalenko as Chair. The Group of Experts is due to deliver a comprehensive report to the Council in March 2025.

The plight of Belarusian lawyers

Lawyers, as well as journalists, human rights defenders, opposition politicians, and dissidents have been targeted with unjust prosecutions that use vague and overbroad national security laws to subject them to arbitrary arrest, detention, and unfair trials. Incommunicado detention without access to legal representation is rife, and there have been reports of torture and enforced disappearance. For example, a jailed opposition leader who resurfaced from incommunicado detention on 9 January 2025, had been held for 700 days with no access to lawyers or family members. There are reports that he has suffered beatings.

Commonly invoked charges include “public order” offences, incitement of “social hatred and discord,” and assistance with “extremist activities.” The Day of the Endangered Lawyers Coalition’s report outlines a number of cases of lawyers who have been targeted with a “a multitude of abuses, including arbitrary arrest and detention, disciplinary proceedings, and denial of their freedom of expression and assembly.”

Government control of law practice, bar admission, ethics and discipline

Those suffering political persecution or human rights violations have inadequate or no access to legal representation since the Lukashenko government’s 2021 legislative changes, which increase control over the independence of judges and lawyers by the Ministry of Justice. National and regional bar associations now lack independence, which means they fail to protect members who represent clients in politically sensitive or human rights cases.

In 2021, the Lukashenko government amended the Law on the Bar to increase the Ministry of Justice’s control of lawyers. The amendments barred lawyers from working independently or within law firms to handle cases involving criminal or administrative offences. Lawyers were compelled to practice in legal advice offices created by regional bar associations, the heads of which are appointed with consent of the Ministry of Justice. More than 100 lawyers’ offices were forced to cease their operations by November 2021.

The amendments to the Law on the Bar also provide for control by the Ministry of Justice over bar admissions. All members of the bar must now be approved by the Ministry, which also now approves the candidates for bar association chairs. Ministry of Justice officials also participate in the activities of bar associations.

In addition, the Ministry controls professional ethics rules and is empowered to initiate disciplinary proceedings for alleged violations. The Ministry of Justice adopted new Rules of Professional Ethics on 30 September 2021 but without consultation with lawyers or approval from the bar associations. The new rules removed lawyers’ immunity from prosecution for statements they make while representing their clients. Lawyers also face potential politically motivated discipline, disbarment or prosecution for speaking out about human rights violations in Belarus.

Inadequate access to independent legal representation

As a result of intimidation and changes to the Law on the Bar that abolished independent law offices, numerous lawyers left the practice of law. Their concerns included lack of confidential client communication, threat of sanctions and disbarment for defending political prisoners, and oversight of their work by persons appointed by the Ministry of Justice.

The Day of the Endangered Lawyers Coalition’s report notes that,

Between November 2021 and September 2023, official data indicates that individuals holding the status of bar member lawyers have dropped from over 2,000 to 1616. On 1 January 2023 there was only one lawyer for every 5,693 people.

As of 16 January 2025, the Belarusian Republican Bar Association reports a further decline in numbers. There are now only 1599 lawyers operating in Belarus, which has a population of just over 9 million people.

Calls on Belarus by the coalition for the international Day of the Endangered Lawyers

The 2025 report of the Coalition for the international Day of the Endangered Lawyer calls for protection of the rights of Belarus lawyers to practice law without intimidation, harassment, or interference. The Coalition demands that:

Lawyers should not be subjected to prosecution, sanctions, or other penalties for actions performed in the course of their professional practice. All proceedings against lawyers for their professional work should be halted, and those imprisoned for such reasons should be released.

The Coalition also calls for independence of bar associations including the right of lawyers,

… to establish and join independent self-governing professional associations to safeguard their interests and promote professional development. The executive body of these associations should be elected by the members and should function without external interference.

Disciplinary proceedings should be overseen by impartial bodies free from interference by government.

Individual lawyers should also be ensured their rights to freedom of expression, association, and access to information in the course of representing their clients. Lawyers must also be free to engage in public discussions about law, politics, and government matters, “and to join or form national and international organisations without fear of professional retaliation.”

The Coalition’s report and recommendations are grounded in international human rights law binding on Belarus as well as the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers. Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada is among the endorsers of the report.

The Day of the Endangered Lawyer: Marked around the world

Events around the world are planned 24 January 2025. Included is an online panel discussion: “The Continuous Repression of Lawyers in Belarus,” (15:00 to 16:30 CET; 9:00 am Eastern). Hosted by the American Bar Association, and Lawyers for Lawyers in the Netherlands and others, the webinar will include presentations by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Ms. Margaret Satterthwaite; the Chair UN Independent Expert Group on Belarus, Ms. Karinna Moskalenko, , and the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus, Mr. Nils Muižniek, and others, including Belarusian lawyers. An online event is also planned by the New York City Bar Association (1 pm EST). Demonstrations by lawyers in robes are planned in front of Belarusian embassies in The Hague, Brussels, and London to call attention to the plight of lawyers and legal professionals in Belarus.

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