GENEVA – Independent human rights experts* today raised serious concerns about an alleged practice of Belarusian criminal courts transferring accused persons to coercive psychiatric treatment in retaliation for their exercise of civil and political rights.

“We have received reports about at least 33 individuals, including five women, transferred for coercive psychiatric treatment because they expressed dissent with the authorities since the beginning of the political crisis around the 2020 presidential elections,” the experts said.

“The oldest known person transferred for such treatment is aged 77,” they said.

The experts warned that this highly irregular penalty could amount to inhuman or degrading punishment and that some of the criminal charges brought against those individuals suggest that their prosecution and transfer to mental health institutions may amount to violations of civil and political rights, including the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of peaceful assembly. The charges include participation in protests (article 342 of the Criminal Code), insulting the President (article 368 of the Criminal Code), insulting a representative of the authorities (article 369 of the Criminal Code), terrorism (article 289 of the Criminal Code) and promoting extremist activities (article 361-4 of the Criminal Code).

“Forced psychiatric treatment is a threat to freedom of opinion as medication and electric shocks could be used to control or diminish mental faculties. Forced psychiatric treatment is a direct attack on freedom of opinion which is an absolute right that cannot be restricted under any circumstance,” the experts noted.

“The process leading to a transfer for compulsory psychiatric treatment lacks transparency and raises serious doubts about whether such transfers are motivated by medical or political considerations,” the experts said. They noted that trials culminating in transfers to mental hospitals allegedly happened behind closed doors.

The experts also expressed concern about the fate of those transferred for coercive treatment. The persons concerned are reportedly held incommunicado in mental health institutions under the unrestricted power of the head physician. Unlike prisoners in penitentiary institutions, they are deprived of liberty for indefinite periods of time and cannot request a pardon or release on parole.

“According to reports received, eight persons transferred for coercive psychiatric treatment have been released. At least 25 others remain incommunicado, and no information is available about their fate or whereabouts, raising concerns about their possible enforced disappearances,” the experts said.

The experts recalled that the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in its jurisprudence has underscored that the involuntary psychiatric treatment of individuals on the basis of their political beliefs or freedom of expression constitutes a grave violation of human rights and international law. “The deployment of psychiatric institutions as instruments of repression not only undermines the integrity of mental healthcare but also erodes the fundamental principles of justice and the rule of law,” they said. “The shameful practice of so-called punitive psychiatry violates the sanctity of human dignity, as enshrined in international human rights instruments.”

“We call on the Belarusian authorities to immediately ensure that these individuals can access legal counsel of their choosing and are provided with effective remedies to challenge their deprivation of liberty,” they said.

The experts have been in contact with the Government of Belarus on these issues.