Valancin Stefanovich: We will do everything possible for Jury Rubcou to remain at large

Another political prisoner may appear in Belarus.

Human rights activists are closely following the case of oppositionist Jury Rubcou, provide him with all the possible assistance and believe that media must pay much more attention to him. Deputy chairman of the Viasna human rights group Valancin Stefanovich has told charter97.org whether it is easy to bring the attention of the international community to activists in Belarus, who have not yet been sentenced, but are actively persecuted, and what Belarusian human rights activists are doing for that at this stage.

- What else can the civil society do for a person, who may become another political prisoner?

- I think, the most basic thing that can be done now is to write about him up to the maximum and spread the information that such a trial will soon take place. We, of course, will monitor this process. I think, on the outcomes of the process we will express our opinion on the matter, although we do believe already now that this trial is first of all related to political persecution, since Rubcou repeatedly fell victim to arbitrary arrests. Apart from that, for what we know, he did not express direct insults toward the judge. That the judge took his words like that probably speaks of the judge’s self-criticism.

- Jury Rubcou himself mentioned that Viasna and other not indifferent people were helping him sincerely.

- On our part we will put all the effort for Rubcou not to lose his freedom. We believe that under such circumstances there are no grounds for persecution in the context of this case. These are knowingly wrongful acts on the part of the authorities, and we know that the practice of arbitrary arrests is very widespread in Belarus. It is a shame that, apart from police, courts are too involved in this, which are supposed to be independent and stand for protecting rights and interests of citizens.

- Were mechanisms put in action to bring the attention of the West and international community to his case, in order to somehow influence the case from outside?

- It is early yet to speak of that, since there have not yet been any decisions on Rubcou. Like I have already said, the very spreading of information as widely as possible will attract attention to this case, including that of human rights organizations.

Rubcou is actively mentioned in our recent report, made together with the Human Rights Federation, on the problem of preventive detentions in Belarus, because he fell victim to such detentions many times: he was detained for wearing a T-shirt with prints saying “Lukashenka, go away!”, which is an acceptable content, and there is nothing illegal in the phrase. However, he was detained for insubordination to police and for disorderly conduct. Before the ice hockey world championship he was also detained twice, after which he was sent to Homiel, where he went on hunger strike.

- When and where will your new report be presented?

- It will be presented in Warsaw at the annual OSCE (ODIHR) conference on 23 September-4 October at a session on the implementation of measures on the issues of the human dimension. The report was prepared on the outcomes of a mission, which took place in Belarus immediately after the IIHF world championship had ended. This report will be disseminated among various international institutions.

- But it turns out that while a person is being actively persecuted, but has not yet been convicted, there are no possibilities to influence his fate from outside, are there? It is much easier to prevent a person going to jail for political views, than get him released from behind bars later.

- There are possibilities to make influence. But I think that in this case there will be no rapid reaction on the part of the European Union or any other institutions. International human rights organizations, of course, react and will react. But when we are speaking about the wider international community context, it is a bit more complicated. They react in a slower fashion, not as fast as we would want them to. But I think that the attention of the embassies will be drawn to this proceeding, and I think that they already have the information and are monitoring his fate.

- The OSCE conference is scheduled on 23 September and the trial – on 16 September. This international meeting could be used to spread the additional new information about Rubcou.

- Of course. This will be the time the verdict will not have yet entered the legal validity, since there is always time to appeal against a verdict. I think, such an appeal will be submitted to Minsk city court, and until it gets considered, the verdict will not become effective. That is why this gives an opportunity for additional maneuvers to bring attention to this situation.