GENEVA: UN independent rights experts on Thursday condemned what they said was “coercive psychiatric treatment” inflicted on dozens of critics of the government in Belarus since presidential elections five years ago.
The former Soviet state was gripped in 2020 by a huge protest movement against President Alexander Lukashenko, that prompted a ruthless crackdown on opponents.
Russian ally Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and won a seventh consecutive term in January in elections derided by exiled opposition figures and Western powers as a “farce” and a “sham”.
The 20 experts, who are appointed by the United Nations Rights Council but do not speak for the global body, said they had been told of at least 33 cases where courts had ordered the punishment.
The group included five women and the oldest person was aged 77, added the specialists, including the UN special rapporteur on the situation on human rights in Belarus, Nils Muiznieks.
“The process leading to a transfer for compulsory psychiatric treatment lacks transparency and raises serious doubts about whether such transfers are motivated by medical or political considerations,” they added.
Trials that culminated in transfers to mental hospitals allegedly happened behind closed doors while those affected are reportedly held “incommunicado under the unrestricted power of the head physician”.
“Unlike prisoners in penitentiary institutions, they are deprived of liberty for indefinite periods of time and cannot request a pardon or release on parole,” a statement read.
“According to reports received, eight persons transferred for coercive psychiatric treatment have been released,” it added.
“At least 25 others remain incommunicado, and no information is available about their fate or their whereabouts, raising concerns about their possible enforced disappearances.”
The experts said they had been in contact with Belarus and urged them to allow those detained to be able to access legal representation for “effective remedies to challenge their deprivation of liberty”.
