Aleh Supruniuk and Pavel Dabravolski recognized as political prisoners

On August 26, 2025, Belaru­sian human rights orga­ni­za­tions issued a joint state­ment regard­ing jour­nal­ists Aleh Supruniuk and Pavel Dabravol­s­ki, who are behind bars in Belarus.

Aleh Supruniuk and Pavel Dabravol­s­ki. Cour­tesy pho­to

We, rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Belaru­sian human rights com­mu­ni­ty, reit­er­ate that crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion and impris­on­ment for actions relat­ed to the law­ful exer­cise of free­dom of expres­sion are being used as tools to restrict the dis­tri­b­u­tion of uncen­sored infor­ma­tion in the coun­try, to sup­press civic and polit­i­cal activ­i­ty, and to sti­fle dis­sent.

Belaru­sian author­i­ties mis­use anti-extrem­ism leg­is­la­tion for polit­i­cal repres­sion. The Min­istry of Inter­nal Affairs and the KGB arbi­trar­i­ly, out­side judi­cial pro­ce­dures, des­ig­nate as “extrem­ist” groups of cit­i­zens unit­ed by social or polit­i­cal inter­ests, who crit­i­cize gov­ern­ment actions and demand change. Thir­ty-nine media out­lets and orga­ni­za­tions have already been labeled as extrem­ist for­ma­tions. This paves the way for arbi­trary crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion and impris­on­ment of their staff, con­trib­u­tors, and sources, serv­ing as a dis­pro­por­tion­ate restric­tion on the rights to free­dom of asso­ci­a­tion and free­dom of expres­sion.

On August 8, 2025, a ver­dict was hand­ed down against Brest jour­nal­ist Aleh Supruniuk. The court found him guilty of “par­tic­i­pa­tion in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion” and sen­tenced him to three years in prison. Accord­ing to a state­ment pub­lished by the Brest Region­al Prosecutor’s Office before the tri­al, Supruniuk was accused of par­tic­i­pat­ing in the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists, des­ig­nat­ed as an extrem­ist for­ma­tion, and of writ­ing arti­cles for it.

The above facts clear­ly show that the crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion of Aleh Supruniuk is polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed and aimed at halt­ing or alter­ing his legit­i­mate activ­i­ties con­nect­ed to the non-vio­lent exer­cise of free­dom of expres­sion and the dis­sem­i­na­tion of infor­ma­tion.

We also have infor­ma­tion about the impris­on­ment of for­mer Naviny.by jour­nal­ist Pavel Dabravol­s­ki. Pre­vi­ous­ly, he worked with var­i­ous inde­pen­dent out­lets. Dur­ing the 2020 protests, he was detained and fined in con­nec­tion with his pro­fes­sion­al activ­i­ty.

In the fall of 2021, Pavel Dabravol­s­ki left Belarus. How­ev­er, it has now become known that since Jan­u­ary 2025, he has been held in cus­tody in a pre-tri­al deten­tion cen­ter in Belarus. The exact charges against him have not been made pub­lic, but the cir­cum­stances of the pros­e­cu­tion give strong rea­son to believe that his deten­tion is linked to his past pro­fes­sion­al activ­i­ty relat­ed to the exer­cise of free­dom of expres­sion and the dis­sem­i­na­tion of infor­ma­tion.

On this basis, and in line with para. 2.1 and 3.1 of the Guide­lines on the Def­i­n­i­tion of Polit­i­cal Pris­on­er, adopt­ed at the 3rd Belaru­sian Human Rights Forum, we, the rep­re­sen­ta­tives of Belaru­sian human rights orga­ni­za­tions, declare that Aleh Supruniuk and Pavel Dabravol­s­ki are polit­i­cal pris­on­ers and demand:

• the imme­di­ate release of Aleh Supruniuk and Pavel Dabravol­s­ki, and the ter­mi­na­tion of their crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion;
• an end to the use of crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion as a tool of pres­sure against free­dom of expres­sion and oth­er rights and free­doms;
• an imme­di­ate end to repres­sion and the release of all polit­i­cal pris­on­ers.

Sig­na­to­ries:

Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists

Legal Ini­tia­tive

PEN Belarus

Office for the Rights of Peo­ple with Dis­abil­i­ties

Lawtrend

Respect-Pro­tect-Ful­fill

Vias­na Human Rights Cen­ter

Belaru­sian Helsin­ki Com­mit­tee