National pressure records / Article
2024: What Will Stand Out For The Human Rights And Legal Community?
Published on January 23rd, 2025
Looking back at the eight most significant events of the past year:
- stabilization in the number of attorneys in Belarus
- the "February events": the mass arrest of attorneys becomes a routine matter
- political prisoner Yulia Yurgilevich receives an award
- Maxim Znak’s incommunicado extended
- the Rico Krieger situation through the lens of the legal profession
- a UN mechanism is created to investigate crimes against humanity in Belarus
- special focus on YLC (Young Lawyers Council)
- Stabilisation in the number of practising attorneys in Belarus
For the first time since 2020, our project recorded an increase in the number of practising attorneys. As of August 2024, 30 attorneys left the bar, while 35 joined (with two more extending their practising status). Still, compared to 2020 when the bar comprised almost 2,200 attorneys, by 2024 the number had dropped to 1,603 — and this figure remained unchanged into early 2025.
Year-by-year change in total number of attorneys:
2021: –151
2022: –195
2023: –88
2024: +3
At least 13 attorneys lost their licences in 2024 following decisions by the Qualification Commission and routine certification procedures. These mechanisms violate international standards for the legal profession. Meanwhile, the other two tracks for disbarment — disciplinary proceedings and licence oversight by the Ministry of Justice — do not appear to have been employed in the past year. However, as will be shown later, this picture is not entirely straightforward.
In April 2024, the Ministry of Justice introduced a new minimum quota for the number of attorneys in legal consultations across the country. Whereas in 2014 the required minimum was 1,313 attorneys, the 2024 regulation raised this to 1,454 (an increase of 141).
Yet it is premature to view this as a positive development for access to legal aid or the availability of qualified professionals. A major bar reform in 2021 restricted the organisational forms of legal practice to legal consultations only. In 2014, the figure of 1,313 attorneys represented the necessary minimum for consultations, excluding the 700+ lawyers who worked either independently or in law firms. Today, the figure of 1,454 reflects a minimum threshold for the number of attorneys in Belarus in general.
The increase of 141 thus likely represents those who transitioned from individual practice or law offices into legal consultations, as well as those who entered the profession via exams over the past decade. For all regions except Minsk city, Minsk region, and Brest region, the minimum number of attorneys per consultation has even been reduced. In 47 consultations, the threshold was lowered to just one attorney per consultation.
Moreover, since the 2014 reform that revoked economic lawyers’ right to represent clients in court, only practising attorneys (and in-house counsel) can now appear in court. Today, 1,603 professionals in Belarus have the right to represent 8 million citizens and 155,000 legal entities who may need court representation.
Year-by-year change in total number of attorneys:
2021: –151
2022: –195
2023: –88
2024: +3
At least 13 attorneys lost their licences in 2024 following decisions by the Qualification Commission and routine certification procedures. These mechanisms violate international standards for the legal profession. Meanwhile, the other two tracks for disbarment — disciplinary proceedings and licence oversight by the Ministry of Justice — do not appear to have been employed in the past year. However, as will be shown later, this picture is not entirely straightforward.
In April 2024, the Ministry of Justice introduced a new minimum quota for the number of attorneys in legal consultations across the country. Whereas in 2014 the required minimum was 1,313 attorneys, the 2024 regulation raised this to 1,454 (an increase of 141).
Yet it is premature to view this as a positive development for access to legal aid or the availability of qualified professionals. A major bar reform in 2021 restricted the organisational forms of legal practice to legal consultations only. In 2014, the figure of 1,313 attorneys represented the necessary minimum for consultations, excluding the 700+ lawyers who worked either independently or in law firms. Today, the figure of 1,454 reflects a minimum threshold for the number of attorneys in Belarus in general.
The increase of 141 thus likely represents those who transitioned from individual practice or law offices into legal consultations, as well as those who entered the profession via exams over the past decade. For all regions except Minsk city, Minsk region, and Brest region, the minimum number of attorneys per consultation has even been reduced. In 47 consultations, the threshold was lowered to just one attorney per consultation.
Moreover, since the 2014 reform that revoked economic lawyers’ right to represent clients in court, only practising attorneys (and in-house counsel) can now appear in court. Today, 1,603 professionals in Belarus have the right to represent 8 million citizens and 155,000 legal entities who may need court representation.
2. “The February Events”: mass arrests of attorneys treated as routine
On 28 February 2024, Belarus witnessed mass detentions of attorneys. Human rights defenders reported at least 12 arrests, though the exact number and reasons remain unknown.
The events were shrouded in secrecy. Only indirect information revealed who might be affected. One of those detained was attorney Halina Parkhimchyk. She was arrested by the KGB for participating in a protest on 16 July 2020. She was also accused of providing financial aid to victims of repression via Facebook. Halina was placed in a pre-trial detention centre and released a week later under a travel ban, holding the status of a suspect. With over 30 years of experience, she has repeatedly defended political prisoners. Her son, Viktar Parkhimchyk, was also a political prisoner, he left the country after serving his full sentence.
Between 28 February and 26 May 2024, several well-known and experienced attorneys disappeared from the Belarusian Republican Bar Association’s online registry. There is no public record of them undergoing the formal disbarment process. This suggests a new strategy: stripping attorneys of their profession without public procedure, forcing them to quietly exit under pressure.
Meanwhile, neither the Republican Bar Association nor territorial Bar associations issued any public statements about the arrests or condemned the systemic state pressure on the legal profession. This is despite their statutory role in defending the legal profession, protecting members, and responding decisively to state interference.
The events were shrouded in secrecy. Only indirect information revealed who might be affected. One of those detained was attorney Halina Parkhimchyk. She was arrested by the KGB for participating in a protest on 16 July 2020. She was also accused of providing financial aid to victims of repression via Facebook. Halina was placed in a pre-trial detention centre and released a week later under a travel ban, holding the status of a suspect. With over 30 years of experience, she has repeatedly defended political prisoners. Her son, Viktar Parkhimchyk, was also a political prisoner, he left the country after serving his full sentence.
Between 28 February and 26 May 2024, several well-known and experienced attorneys disappeared from the Belarusian Republican Bar Association’s online registry. There is no public record of them undergoing the formal disbarment process. This suggests a new strategy: stripping attorneys of their profession without public procedure, forcing them to quietly exit under pressure.
Meanwhile, neither the Republican Bar Association nor territorial Bar associations issued any public statements about the arrests or condemned the systemic state pressure on the legal profession. This is despite their statutory role in defending the legal profession, protecting members, and responding decisively to state interference.
3. Award for political prisoner Yuliya Yurgilevich
On 25 May 2024, the Warsaw Bar Association awarded the Ludovic-Trarieux Human Rights Prize to lawyer Yuliya Yurgilevich, who was sentenced to six years in a general-regime penal colony.
Established in 1984, the Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize honours “ a lawyer, regardless of nationality or Bar, who, by their work, will have illustrated their activity or their suffering, the defence of human rights, of defence rights, the supremacy of law, the struggle against racism and intolerance in any form”. The first laureate was Nelson Mandela in 1985 while he was still imprisoned.
We remind you that on 26 July 2024, Hrodna Regional Court (Judge M. Filatau) has sentenced journalist Pavel Mozheiko and attorney Yuliya Yurgilevich to six years in prison. They were found guilty under Part 2 of Article 361-4 of the Belarusian Criminal Code for “other assistance to extremist activity, committed repeatedly, by a group in prior collusion”.
According to case files, Yuliya allegedly informed Pavel about losing her law licence and shared information about the criminal case of Ales Pushkin. Pavel allegedly published this on the “Belnovosti” website. Yuliya later reported being held in inhumane conditions and denied access to her case materials.
Established in 1984, the Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize honours “ a lawyer, regardless of nationality or Bar, who, by their work, will have illustrated their activity or their suffering, the defence of human rights, of defence rights, the supremacy of law, the struggle against racism and intolerance in any form”. The first laureate was Nelson Mandela in 1985 while he was still imprisoned.
We remind you that on 26 July 2024, Hrodna Regional Court (Judge M. Filatau) has sentenced journalist Pavel Mozheiko and attorney Yuliya Yurgilevich to six years in prison. They were found guilty under Part 2 of Article 361-4 of the Belarusian Criminal Code for “other assistance to extremist activity, committed repeatedly, by a group in prior collusion”.
According to case files, Yuliya allegedly informed Pavel about losing her law licence and shared information about the criminal case of Ales Pushkin. Pavel allegedly published this on the “Belnovosti” website. Yuliya later reported being held in inhumane conditions and denied access to her case materials.
4. Our website and social media declared “extremist materials”
On 4 June 2024, Leninsky District court in Brest declared our website defendersbelarus.org “extremist material”. The same designation was applied to our Telegram channel.
This is part of a broader state campaign targeting thousands of independent and human rights-related resources. One year earlier, on 13 June 2023, our website became inaccessible within Belarus.
It is evident that the government seeks to suppress objective and “inconvenient” information — especially regarding the state of the Belarusian legal profession and the challenges facing attorneys today.
This is part of a broader state campaign targeting thousands of independent and human rights-related resources. One year earlier, on 13 June 2023, our website became inaccessible within Belarus.
It is evident that the government seeks to suppress objective and “inconvenient” information — especially regarding the state of the Belarusian legal profession and the challenges facing attorneys today.
5. Prolonged incommunicado detention of attorney Maxim Znak
On 10 January 2024, the UN Human Rights Committee registered an individual communication submitted by Maxim Znak on 4 February 2023. On 6 September 2021, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for carrying out his professional duties. Since February 2023 — now for two full years — Maxim has been completely cut off from the outside world. The administration of Penal Colony No. 3 in Vitba has denied him visits with family members, barred access to his defender, and prohibited all phone calls and correspondence.
Such treatment of detainees is recognised in international practice as a form of torture.
Maxim Znak’s incommunicado detention has repeatedly drawn public condemnation. In May 2023, a group of UN Special Rapporteurs issued a joint statement calling for the release of individuals held incommunicado. In December 2023 and January 2024, as part of a public campaign, numerous legal and human rights organisations voiced their support for ending the torture of Maxim Znak and restoring his contact with the outside world. These include the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), the Bar Associations of Lithuania, Germany, Sweden, the Warsaw Bar Association, the Belarusian Human Rights Lawyers Association, Lawyers for Lawyers, the International Observatory for Lawyers, the Viasna Human Rights Centre, and the Right to Defence project.
Maxim Znak’s incommunicado detention has repeatedly drawn public condemnation. In May 2023, a group of UN Special Rapporteurs issued a joint statement calling for the release of individuals held incommunicado. In December 2023 and January 2024, as part of a public campaign, numerous legal and human rights organisations voiced their support for ending the torture of Maxim Znak and restoring his contact with the outside world. These include the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), the Bar Associations of Lithuania, Germany, Sweden, the Warsaw Bar Association, the Belarusian Human Rights Lawyers Association, Lawyers for Lawyers, the International Observatory for Lawyers, the Viasna Human Rights Centre, and the Right to Defence project.
6. The case of Rico Krieger: a legal profession perspective
In mid-July, news broke that a death sentence had been handed down in Belarus against German national Rico Krieger. The situation developed rapidly and ultimately concluded with Krieger’s return to Germany, following a pardon and a prisoner exchange involving Russian agents convicted in Europe and the United States.
On 28 July, the state-run television channel Belarus 1 aired a segment on Krieger’s trial. In it, State Security (KGB) employee Lyudmila Hladkaya, who claimed to have followed the entire trial, stated that the death sentence was “essentially the attorney’s fault”. According to her, after the defender entered the case, Krieger shifted from a full confession to a partial admission of guilt.
At the same time, Hladkaya implied that the death sentence had less to do with the strength of the prosecution’s case or the court’s reasoning, and more to do with the fact that the defendant — under the influence of his lawyer — adopted the “wrong” legal strategy. By blaming the attorney for the death sentence, the message sent to the legal community is clear: do not advise your clients to deny guilt, or the state will execute them — and attorneys will be held publicly responsible.
Needless to say, the Belarusian Republican Bar Association issued no comment on this public discrediting of a lawyer by state media.
In response to this attack, the Right to Defence project issued a statement condemning the public smear campaign against the lawyer who defended Rico Krieger.
On 28 July, the state-run television channel Belarus 1 aired a segment on Krieger’s trial. In it, State Security (KGB) employee Lyudmila Hladkaya, who claimed to have followed the entire trial, stated that the death sentence was “essentially the attorney’s fault”. According to her, after the defender entered the case, Krieger shifted from a full confession to a partial admission of guilt.
At the same time, Hladkaya implied that the death sentence had less to do with the strength of the prosecution’s case or the court’s reasoning, and more to do with the fact that the defendant — under the influence of his lawyer — adopted the “wrong” legal strategy. By blaming the attorney for the death sentence, the message sent to the legal community is clear: do not advise your clients to deny guilt, or the state will execute them — and attorneys will be held publicly responsible.
Needless to say, the Belarusian Republican Bar Association issued no comment on this public discrediting of a lawyer by state media.
In response to this attack, the Right to Defence project issued a statement condemning the public smear campaign against the lawyer who defended Rico Krieger.
7. Establishment of a UN mechanism to investigate crimes against humanity in Belarus
In April, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution establishing a new accountability mechanism for crimes under international law committed by the Belarusian authorities. Based on its own independent investigations, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) concluded that the serious human rights violations perpetrated in Belarus since the onset of repression in 2020 may amount to crimes against humanity.
The new mechanism is mandated to investigate ongoing serious violations, collect and preserve evidence of international crimes, and identify those responsible—building on the work previously carried out by the OHCHR.
In June, the President of the Human Rights Council announced the appointment of three members to the new Independent Experts Group on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus: Susan Bazilli (Canada), Karinna Moskalenko (Russian Federation), and Monika Stanisława Platek (Poland). Karinna Moskalenko is to serve as the Chair.
All three experts had previously served in the OHCHR’s mandate to examine the human rights situation in Belarus, which concluded in April 2024.
The new mechanism is mandated to investigate ongoing serious violations, collect and preserve evidence of international crimes, and identify those responsible—building on the work previously carried out by the OHCHR.
In June, the President of the Human Rights Council announced the appointment of three members to the new Independent Experts Group on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus: Susan Bazilli (Canada), Karinna Moskalenko (Russian Federation), and Monika Stanisława Platek (Poland). Karinna Moskalenko is to serve as the Chair.
All three experts had previously served in the OHCHR’s mandate to examine the human rights situation in Belarus, which concluded in April 2024.
8. Special attention to the Council of Young Lawyers
In a recent article, we examined the Young Lawyers Council (YLC) of the Belarusian Republican Bar Association and its activities, which are deeply damaging to the legal profession. The piece highlighted some of the most egregious projects carried out by the YLC as part of state propaganda and ideological campaigning. Among them was a video produced jointly by young lawyers and GUBOPiK — the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption, an agency that systematically violates human rights, the very values lawyers are meant to protect.
Judging by their public statements, however, the Council of Young Lawyers appears proud of this collaboration, showing little concern for the reputation of the legal profession or the rights of their clients.
The article also covered other state-aligned activities involving lawyers, such as participation in the pro-regime flash mob “NADO” in support of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s government, cooperation with the pro-government organisation Belaya Rus, and holding propaganda meetings with workers and schoolchildren where they promoted illegitimate legislation and spoke about criminal liability for “extremism”.
While our project’s social media channels have been labelled “extremist materials” — and while Belarusians are regularly detained for 15 days, fined, or even criminally prosecuted for reposting content from such sources — it seems that “some are more equal than others” under the law. GUBOPiK’s reaction to our article on the YLC can even be seen reposted in the Council’s own Telegram channel.
Although such behaviour from GUBOPiK is to be expected, the response from young lawyers is, unfortunately, yet another sign of the degradation of the institution of legal aid in Belarus.
Judging by their public statements, however, the Council of Young Lawyers appears proud of this collaboration, showing little concern for the reputation of the legal profession or the rights of their clients.
The article also covered other state-aligned activities involving lawyers, such as participation in the pro-regime flash mob “NADO” in support of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s government, cooperation with the pro-government organisation Belaya Rus, and holding propaganda meetings with workers and schoolchildren where they promoted illegitimate legislation and spoke about criminal liability for “extremism”.
While our project’s social media channels have been labelled “extremist materials” — and while Belarusians are regularly detained for 15 days, fined, or even criminally prosecuted for reposting content from such sources — it seems that “some are more equal than others” under the law. GUBOPiK’s reaction to our article on the YLC can even be seen reposted in the Council’s own Telegram channel.
Although such behaviour from GUBOPiK is to be expected, the response from young lawyers is, unfortunately, yet another sign of the degradation of the institution of legal aid in Belarus.
