Release and drop charges against Marfa Rabkova
Posted February 11, 2022
Scholars at Risk sent the below letter to authorities in Belarus, urging them to secure Marfa Rabkova’s immediate release and to drop any charges against her. Ms. Rabkova has been imprisoned since September 17, 2020, and faces thirteen charges in connection to her nonviolent participation in nationwide protests over the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko. If convicted, Ms. Rabkova faces up to 20 years in prison.
You can support Ms. Rabkova by signing this letter in your own name.
Via email to the Honorable Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus
February 11, 2022
RE: Release and drop charges against Marfa Rabkova
Your Excellency:
I write on behalf of Scholars at Risk to express grave concern for Marfa Rabkova, a student at European Humanities University (EHU), Lithuania, who has been imprisoned in Belarus since September 17, 2020. Ms. Rabkova faces thirteen charges in apparent retaliation for her nonviolent participation in nationwide protests over the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko. If convicted, Ms. Rabkova faces up to 20 years in prison. I therefore respectfully urge you to instruct the relevant authorities to immediately release Ms. Rabkova and drop any charges against her.
Scholars at Risk (SAR) is an international network of more than 500 universities and colleges in 42 countries dedicated to protecting the human rights of scholars around the world, and to raising awareness, understanding of, and respect for the principles of academic freedom and its constituent freedoms of expression, opinion, thought, association, and travel. In cases like this, involving alleged infringement of these freedoms, SAR investigates, hoping to clarify and resolve matters favorably.
Ms. Rabkova is a third-year student at the International Law and European Union Law program at EHU and the coordinator of the Volunteer Service at Human Rights Center Viasna. In that capacity, Ms. Rabkova monitored the nationwide protests calling for President Lukashenko’s resignation. On September 17, 2020, officers from the Main Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime and Corruption (GUBOPiK) arrested Ms. Rabkova and her husband, Vadzim Zharomsky. The GUBOPiK officers searched Ms. Rabkova and Mr. Zharomsky’s home, seized their personal belongings, and later released Mr. Zharomsky. Ms. Rabkova has been in custody in Minsk Detention Center No. 1 ever since.
Authorities have extended Ms. Rabkova’s pretrial detention multiple times over the past one and a half years and have indicted her with several charges. On February 11, 2021, Ms. Rabkova received an indictment of two additional charges: “participating in a criminal organization” (Criminal Code Article 285(2)) and “inciting racial, national, religious or other social hostility by a group of individuals” (Criminal Code Article 130(3)). On November 28, Ms. Rabkova’s family reportedly received a letter with a list of eleven additional charges against her. If convicted, Ms. Rabkova faces up to 20 years in prison.
I welcome any additional information that may explain these events or clarify my understanding. Absent this, Ms. Rabkova’s detention, judicial harassment, and prosecution—in retaliation for exercising her rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association—suggest a troubling disregard for international standards of due process, fair trial, and the humane treatment of prisoners, as guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Belarus is a party.
I therefore respectfully urge you to instruct the relevant authorities to immediately release Ms. Rabkova and drop all charges against her; and, pending such action, ensure her well-being and access to proper medical treatment, legal counsel, and family.
I appreciate your attention to this important matter and look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Robert Quinn
Executive Director
CC:
The Honorable Igor V. Karpenko
Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus
The Honorable Ivan Kubrakov
Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus
The Honorable Ivan Naskevich
Chair of the Investigative Committee
The Honorable Vladimir Makei
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus
The Honorable Michelle Bachelet
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Honorable Anaïs Marin
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus
The Honorable Valentin Rybakov
Permanent Representative of Belarus to the United Nations
The Honorable Josep Borrell Fontelles
European Commission High Representative/Vice President
The Honorable Robert Biedroń
Vice-Chair of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with Belarus
The Honorable Petras Auštrevičius Standing Rapporteur on Belarus
The Honorable Dirk Schuebel
Head of European Union Delegation to Belarus
The Honorable Eamon Gilmore
European Union Special Representative for Human Rights
Dr. Wolfgang Benedek
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Rapporteur
Ms. Karinna Moskalenko
UN Human Rights Office’s Fact-Finding Mission on Belarus
c/o Rupert Colville
Mr. Marko Milanović
UN Human Rights Office’s Fact-Finding Mission on Belarus
Ms. Susan Bazilli
UN Human Rights Office’s Fact-Finding Mission on Belarus
