Statement on recognition of Yanina Pazniak as a political prisoner

Joint state­ment by the Belaru­sian human rights com­mu­ni­ty.

We, the rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the human rights com­mu­ni­ty of Belarus, once again note that crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion and impris­on­ment for actions relat­ed to the legit­i­mate exer­cise of free­dom of expres­sion are a tool for lim­it­ing the dis­sem­i­na­tion of uncen­sored infor­ma­tion in the coun­try, sup­press­ing pub­lic and polit­i­cal activ­i­ty and dis­sent.

The anti-extrem­ist leg­is­la­tion is used by the Belaru­sian author­i­ties for the pur­pos­es of polit­i­cal repres­sion. Out-of-court, the Inte­ri­or Min­istry and the KGB arbi­trar­i­ly rec­og­nize as extrem­ist cit­i­zens’ groups brought togeth­er by pub­lic or polit­i­cal inter­ests that crit­i­cize the actions of the author­i­ties and demand reforms in the state poli­cies. 49 media resources were rec­og­nized as extrem­ist groups as well. This paves the way for the arbi­trary crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion and impris­on­ment of their mem­bers, par­tic­i­pants, and respon­dents as a dis­pro­por­tion­ate mea­sure restrict­ing the right to asso­ci­a­tion and free­dom of expres­sion. 

On Sep­tem­ber 4, 2025, YouTube chan­nel Plat­for­ma 375 was des­ig­nat­ed as an “extrem­ist group”, and jour­nal­ist Kiryl Paz­ni­ak, who was declared the “orga­niz­er” of this group in the rel­e­vant KGB deci­sion, was detained and placed in cus­tody in a crim­i­nal case (on Sep­tem­ber 17, 2025, Kiryl Paz­ni­ak was rec­og­nized as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er).

On the same day, Sep­tem­ber 4, Kiryl Paz­ni­ak’s 20-year-old daugh­ter, Yan­i­na Paz­ni­ak, was also detained. She was also placed in cus­tody and charged with col­lab­o­rat­ing with an “extrem­ist group.”

This sug­gests that the crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion of Yan­i­na Paz­ni­ak is polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed and is relat­ed to legit­i­mate activ­i­ties aimed at exer­cis­ing the right to free­dom of expres­sion and dis­sem­i­na­tion of infor­ma­tion.

Based on this and guid­ed by para. 2.1 and 3.1 of the Guide­lines on the Def­i­n­i­tion of Polit­i­cal Pris­on­ers adopt­ed at the III Belaru­sian Human Rights Forum, we, human rights defend­ers, rec­og­nize Yan­i­na Paz­ni­ak as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er and call on the Belaru­sian author­i­ties to:

• imme­di­ate­ly release Yan­i­na Paz­ni­ak and stop crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion against her;

• refrain from using crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion as an instru­ment of pres­sure on free­dom of expres­sion, or oth­er rights and free­doms;

• imme­di­ate­ly stop the repres­sion and release all polit­i­cal pris­on­ers.

Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists;

Legal ini­tia­tive;

Human Rights Cen­ter Vias­na;

PEN Belarus;

Belaru­sian Helsin­ki Com­mit­tee;

Lawtrend;

Barys Zvozskau Belaru­sian Human Rights House