Experts urge Belarus to release political prisoners with disabilities and serious health conditions

GENEVA  – Independent human rights experts* today called for the release of political prisoners with disabilities and serious health conditions, who were convicted to prison sentences for various forms of civil disobedience in the context of the 2020 presidential elections.

“We are horrified by reports about appalling detention conditions, lack of proper medical care and deliberate ill-treatment of prisoners convicted in relation to the 2020 events, including persons with disabilities, and chronic and acute diseases. If these persons remain in detention under the current conditions, we have reason to fear that that their health will suffer irreparable and permanent harm,” the experts said.

In March 2025, there were at least seven inmates with disabilities and 78 inmates suffering chronic and grave acute diseases who were recognised by human rights defenders as political prisoners in Belarus. According to reports, these persons do not benefit from appropriate medical care and detention conditions and are subjected to intentional ill-treatment.

On 17 April 2025, the experts addressed a letter to Belarusian authorities raising concerns about ill-treatment in detention of two men with disabilities, deprived of liberty since 2021, Andrei Navitski and Dzianis Salmanovich. Navitski, who reportedly participated in a peaceful assembly, was convicted under the charges of violating the public order, insulting the President and possessing gunpowder, and Salmanovich is serving a prison sentence for producing films for the Cyber Partisans civil initiative, under charges of terrorism and extremism.

“These two men are being subjected to ill-treatment known to cause grave and irreversible harm to their condition. In addition, they are nearly entirely deprived of communication with their families, who are left wondering whether their loved ones are still alive,” the experts said.

“The treatment of both these prisoners and their families is inhumane. We are calling on the Belarusian authorities to immediately put an end to the practice of incommunicado detentions, which expose these persons to the risk of enforced disappearance, and ensure regular communication of all detainees with their families,” they said.

The letter addressed to the authorities also referred to a reported case of female prisoners denied medical care, including a case of a woman who acquired an impairment due to forced labor in unhealthy conditions despite protests of feeling unwell.

On 2 July 2024, Belarusian authorities released on amnesty prisoners with disabilities of groups I and II as well as prisoners suffering some grave illnesses. On 17 February 2025, Belarus amended its law exempting from pretrial detention and imprisonment persons with certain disabilities and grave illnesses. However, these initiatives do not apply to persons recognised as “extremists”, a label routinely imposed on individuals convicted in relation to the 2020 protests.

“We call on Belarusian authorities to consider immediate release or non-custodial sanctions for all political prisoners in connection with the above-mentioned events, with disabilities and illnesses, in order to prevent permanent and grave damage to their lives and health,” the experts said.