Viasna Human Rights Centre, a prominent rights organization in Belarus, has announced the demise of political prisoner Dmitriy Schlethauer. Schlethauer passed away on 11 October 2024, mere weeks after his relocation to a penal colony in Mogilev, eastern Belarus. The details surrounding his death remain unspecified. The full report can be accessed here.
Previously convicted for espionage and promoting extremist activities, Schlethauer was sentenced to a 12-year stint in prison during a trial held in Brest. Despite filing an appeal, his case was dismissed in a confidential session on 30 August 2024, as reported by Viasna. This marks the seventh instance of a political detainee losing their life while in custody, according to exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Currently, detainees Tomasz Bjaroza and Andrei Szmai, facing similar charges, remain behind bars.
Tsikhanouskaya has urged global intervention to curb further casualties. The spotlight remains on Belarus’ diminishing human rights landscape, which has been in decline since the contentious 2020 elections that resulted in widespread protests and over a thousand arrests. The deterioration has led some human rights observers to assert the presence of potential crimes against humanity in the country.
Notably, Ales Bialiatski, founder of Viasna and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is also currently detained under accusations of supporting the 2020 protests and illicitly trafficking money. In a broader context, Belarus’ detachment from the First Optional Protocol of the ICCPR severely limits the ability of its citizens to challenge human rights violations on an international stage.