When a State Focuses Solely on Repression, Speaking about the Right to Defence Becomes an Act of Extremism

As of June 4, 2024, our project's website, "Right to Defence" (defendersbelarus.org), has been classified as "extremist materials."

From the very beginning, our mission has been to build a strong and independent legal profession in Belarus. For three and a half years, we have engaged with colleagues from the legal communities of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova, Canada, and other countries. To understand the historical development of the legal profession, we prepared and published original materials on the history of law in Eastern Europe. We shared heartfelt letters of gratitude from clients to their attorneys and letters of support from colleagues.

We documented the realities of the legal profession, highlighting the issues faced by individuals and attorneys that are ignored by the official channels of Belarusian bar associations. Our work has been cited by international human rights bodies, special rapporteurs, and human rights organisations. Throughout our existence, we have not received a single complaint about misinformation because objectivity is our priority.

We’re unaware of (and struggle to understand) the grounds for our website to be labelled "extremist materials." Was it our series on the problem of "phantom" legal advice offices without attorneys? Or the series with a psychologist about attorney burnout and self-care? Perhaps it was our analysis of the European Court of Human Rights' decision recognizing beards as part of personal identity? Or maybe our article on human rights in theocratic Iran? Could it be the guide on submitting individual complaints to the UN Human Rights Committee, which has become inaccessible for Belarusians since February 8, 2023? Or perhaps the national security threat was our analytics on the concept of rule of law?

It is likely a question that does not require an answer, as it is evident that the true reason for this decision is the independence and objectivity of the information we provided to our readers. Our information aimed to create and support a strong and thriving legal profession, with lawyers unafraid to defend any client by all available means. It envisioned a legal profession so reputable that it would attract high-calibre lawyers eager to join the bar, rather than needing to persuade graduates to consider this path, resulting in only a handful of successful recruits.

Labelling the "Right to Defence" project website as extremist material is a continuation of the state's campaign to repress thousands of independent human rights resources. A year ago, on June 13, 2023, our website became inaccessible in the Republic of Belarus. It is evident that the state is trying to limit the dissemination of objective and "inconvenient" information, particularly about the current state of the Belarusian legal profession and the existing problems within the legal community.

Our website published articles with research findings on the legal community. While representatives of the Belarusian Republican Bar Association on propaganda TV channels claimed there were no problems with access to legal aid, we demonstrated the number of attorneys who left after the legislative reforms and the dismantling of legal bureaus and individual practices. When territorial bar associations expelled attorneys who signed anti-war petitions, our project explained why this violated attorney guarantees. When the state arrested another attorney for honestly performing their professional duties, the Bar did not object, pretending that attorneys’ rights were not being violated and that there were no attacks on the entire institution of legal assistance. Now, as the self-governing bodies of the legal profession either remain silent or become active participants in the repression of attorneys, someone must point out these violations, document violations of international standards, and condemn those who participate in them. If the self-governing bodies of the legal profession, which are supposed to protect lawyers' rights, cannot do this, we will continue to do so. We will fulfil all the functions in the informational space that bar associations should perform in a state governed by the rule of law.

Nowhere in UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers is there mention of the importance of laying flowers at monuments or participating in state propaganda. Instead, much is said about ensuring that all individuals have real and equal access to legal aid and that lawyers can advise and assist their clients in accordance with the law and recognized professional standards and ethical norms without improper interference.

Lawyers, like other citizens, have the right to freedom of expression, belief, and assembly. In particular, they have the right to participate in public discussions on matters concerning the law, the administration of justice, and the promotion and protection of human rights, and to be members of local, national, or international organisations, or to form and attend meetings without suffering professional disadvantage by reason of their lawful action or their membership in a lawful organisation. In exercising these rights, lawyers should always conduct themselves in accordance with the law and the recognized standards and ethics of the legal profession.

We will continue to speak out and provide our readers with information about the state of the Belarusian legal profession and the human rights community, despite active obstruction from the government. Despite our new "status," we will continue our work as usual — just as many other Belarusian resources recognized as "extremist" by the authorities continue to deliver honest information to Belarusians and the international community.

We frequently write about Belarusian attorneys in detention. The first precedent where the state violated professional guarantees and arrested a specialist for performing their duties was the arrest and sentencing of political prisoner lawyer Maksim Znak. For a year and a half, there has been no information from him, but in the letters sent before he was placed incommunicado, he shared his poetry. And we would like to end our statement with his lines from the poem "Bulba" [Potatoe]:

"They thought they buried us...
But we are potatoes! How can we be buried?
We pierced the earth with green,
Trying to reach the sky."