{"id":3145,"date":"2020-08-13T19:17:40","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T16:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/d9lb3qyw8jhbr.cloudfront.net\/?p=3145"},"modified":"2020-08-13T19:18:37","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T16:18:37","slug":"urgent-appeal-concerning-internet-service-disruptions-in-belarus-in-the-context-of-the-presidential-elections-of-9-august-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/d9lb3qyw8jhbr.cloudfront.net\/en\/urgent-appeal-concerning-internet-service-disruptions-in-belarus-in-the-context-of-the-presidential-elections-of-9-august-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Urgent appeal concerning Internet service disruptions in Belarus in the context of the presidential elections of 9 August 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
We, the undersigned NGOs, bring the information on the disruptions of Internet services in Minsk and other cities of the Republic of Belarus, in the context of the presidential elections of 9 August 2020 to the attention of the mandate holders. After setting out the general context of the limitations on freedom of expression, this urgent appeal will set out the disruptions that were recorded on 9 August 2020 in Belarus. We will accordingly argue that such disruptions are impermissible under international human rights law and recommend the course of action for the mandate holders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
General context<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Presidential elections in Belarus were scheduled for 9 August 2020. The incumbent Mr Aliaksandr Lukashenka, in office since 1994, stood for reelection. Opposition fielded three major candidates: Mr Viktar Babaryka, a banker, Mr Valery Tsapkala, a retired diplomat, and Mr Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a popular blogger. The latter was imprisoned prior to the opening of electoral operations, but his spouse Mrs Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaia was allowed to run and registered as a candidate for elections. Mr Babaryka and Mr Tsapkala collected the requisite signatures in support of their candidacies, but were prevented from running by the decisions of the Central Electoral Commission. All major opposition candidates united to support Mrs Tsikhanouskaia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Multiple acts of the Belarusian authorities interfering with the freedom of expression were recorded in the months preceding the voting. Over 50 journalists covering opposition rallies<\/a>, dozens of activists and bloggers, were arrested and detained,<\/a> as were members of Mrs Tsikhanouskaia\u2019s campaign team. On 5 August a Deutsche Welle journalist was arrested and sentenced to 10 days of administrative detention by a court. On 7 and 9 August two groups of foreign (Russian and Ukrainian) journalists, those of CurrentTimeTV, a Radio Liberty project, and of a Russian channel TVRain, 6 journalists in total, were arrested in Minsk. All were administratively expelled from Belarus. Multiple arrests of journalists took place in the evening of 9 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Criminal investigations were opened against no less than 10 popular social media bloggers, Messrs Siarhei Tsikhanouski, Aliaksandr Kabanau, Siarhei Piatrukhin, Ulazdimer Neronski, Zmitser Kazlou, Uladzimer Tsyganovich, Aliaksandr Andreeu, Ihar Losik, Mikalai Maslouski, Siarhei Sparysh. Mr Siarhei Biaspalau who runs Telegram channel Maia kraina Belarus<\/em> (Belarus is my country<\/em>) was forced to leave Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Internet service disruptions on 9 August 2020 in Belarus<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n During the whole day of 9 August 2020 Internet access in Belarus was wholly or partly limited. Blockings were either total or concerned specific Internet services, web sites, social networks, messaging services, whether local or global. It is alleged that the Belarusian authorities decided to block data transfer protocols which led to the disruption of connectivity of the Belarusian networks. All foreign traffic was directed through one channel only in an attempt to allow for deep-packet inspection making VPN services ineffective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On 9 August media<\/a> and users from all over the country reported limited or no access to YouTube, Viber, Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Vkontakte<\/a>. Independent experts further reported that the network connectivity in Belarus was down to 20% from the usual levels<\/a>. The problems were encountered across all of the landline and mobile service providers. A1, a landline and mobile service provider, tweeted that Internet access would be restored once the \u201csuperior provider\u201d so decides<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also on 9 August access to a number of mass media web-sites was blocked by a targeted governmental action. Were concerned Nasha Niva<\/em> newspaper (nn.by), Mediazona <\/em>(zona.media), Afn.by and a popular search engine, news aggregator and blogging platform www.tut.by<\/a>. Access to the online platform for election monitoring Zubr was likewise blocked. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Alternative online vote-counting system Golos<\/em> (both \u201cvoice\u201d and \u201cvote\u201d in Russian) became a target of a DNS spoofing attack<\/a>. Its DNS was manipulated so that users were directed to a web-site that attempted to collect the users\u2019 personal data — mobile phone numbers which in Belarus are tied to identity papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the evening of 9 August, approximately at 9.30 pm Minsk time (CEST+1), major disruptions were recorded on the whole territory of Belarus. Its connectivity to other countries was almost non-existent in the evening. This major shutdown lasted until approximately 5 a.m. the following morning, but even later the service has not been restored completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n