On January 3, 2024, the District Council of Attorneys in Warsaw released a statement regarding Belarusian attorney and human rights defender Maxim Znak. The statement expressed solidarity with Znak, currently imprisoned, and called for his immediate release and that of all political prisoners “held under the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, which breaches international obligations”. Polish attorneys stressed that persecution for peacefully exercising fundamental rights and freedoms, such as expression, assembly, and association, has no place in a modern democratic society, where attorneys also belong.
Position No. 1/2024 by the District Council of Attorneys in Warsaw
January 3, 2024
On the case of Belarusian attorney and human rights defender Maxim Znak
The District Council of the Warsaw Bar Association has the honour to express its solidarity with the attorney Maxim Znak, incarcerated in a Belarusian penal colony, and demands the prompt liberation of him and all political detainees held under the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, which breaches international obligations.
The District Bar Council in Warsaw joins the statement published by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on 30 May 2023, which condemned the severe detention conditions, especially for political prisoners, including Maxim Znak, as well as the often baseless and arbitrary nature of these detentions.
Maxim Znak is an attorney who, prior to his detention, represented the interests of, among others, Viktar Babaryka, as well as Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, an activist of the Belarusian democratic opposition and its main candidate for the presidency of Belarus in the August 2020 elections.
Despite facing an immense personal risk — which, by the way, eventually materialised — the attorney courageously represented the interests of his clients until his arrest.
After his arrest and conviction in a closed trial, he was placed in penal colony No. 3 in the village of Vitba, near Vitebsk. He is still there, deprived of contact with his lawyers and family for many months, which is a blatant violation of his rights and should be regarded as a manifestation of repressions.
The work of the attorney has been acknowledged by several international honours, including the CCBE Human Rights award 2021, IBA Award for Outstanding Contribution 2021 and Lawyers for Lawyers Award 2021.
The District Bar Council in Warsaw expresses its most sincere support to Maxim Znak and emphasises that in a modern democratic society, of which persons in the legal profession also form a part, there can be no place for persecution of people peacefully exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association. The same rights and freedoms that, in the case of Maxim Znak, have been flagrantly violated by the Belarusian regime.
Head of the District Bar Council in Warsaw
Attorney Mikołaj Pietrzak
Position No. 1/2024 by the District Council of Attorneys in Warsaw
January 3, 2024
On the case of Belarusian attorney and human rights defender Maxim Znak
The District Council of the Warsaw Bar Association has the honour to express its solidarity with the attorney Maxim Znak, incarcerated in a Belarusian penal colony, and demands the prompt liberation of him and all political detainees held under the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, which breaches international obligations.
The District Bar Council in Warsaw joins the statement published by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on 30 May 2023, which condemned the severe detention conditions, especially for political prisoners, including Maxim Znak, as well as the often baseless and arbitrary nature of these detentions.
Maxim Znak is an attorney who, prior to his detention, represented the interests of, among others, Viktar Babaryka, as well as Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, an activist of the Belarusian democratic opposition and its main candidate for the presidency of Belarus in the August 2020 elections.
Despite facing an immense personal risk — which, by the way, eventually materialised — the attorney courageously represented the interests of his clients until his arrest.
After his arrest and conviction in a closed trial, he was placed in penal colony No. 3 in the village of Vitba, near Vitebsk. He is still there, deprived of contact with his lawyers and family for many months, which is a blatant violation of his rights and should be regarded as a manifestation of repressions.
The work of the attorney has been acknowledged by several international honours, including the CCBE Human Rights award 2021, IBA Award for Outstanding Contribution 2021 and Lawyers for Lawyers Award 2021.
The District Bar Council in Warsaw expresses its most sincere support to Maxim Znak and emphasises that in a modern democratic society, of which persons in the legal profession also form a part, there can be no place for persecution of people peacefully exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association. The same rights and freedoms that, in the case of Maxim Znak, have been flagrantly violated by the Belarusian regime.
Head of the District Bar Council in Warsaw
Attorney Mikołaj Pietrzak
