{"id":6101,"date":"2023-11-09T12:34:44","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T09:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/d9lb3qyw8jhbr.cloudfront.net\/?p=6101"},"modified":"2023-11-13T14:44:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T11:44:17","slug":"no-dialog-behind-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/d9lb3qyw8jhbr.cloudfront.net\/en\/no-dialog-behind-bars\/","title":{"rendered":"No Dialogue Behind Bars. Open letter to international stakeholders related to participation in IGF.BY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
On November 15th, Minsk will host the fifth Belarus Internet Governance Forum (IGF.BY 2023). Organizers optimistically state their vision<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBelarus IGF is the largest open platform in the country for discussing key aspects of internet development. The forum brings together representatives of the state, business, non-profit organizations, the technical and academic community, as well as ordinary internet users. <…> Anyone interested can participate in shaping the regional agenda for internet development.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The event is primarily organized by hoster.by. The Forum has received backing from the Ministry of Communications and Informatization and the Ministry of Information. But the most notable is that the list of international partners for this event includes RIPE NCC, ICANN, and the Internet Governance Forum Support Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the current political climate in Belarus, which has affected both its citizens and major businesses, we do not intend to denounce national organizers of the event. Let us remind you that after the crackdown on the major independent online media TUT.BY, other related entities including hoster.by also faced repressions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, we do raise questions towards international partners who have confirmed their participation and urge them to consider the broader implications of their involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The events pre, mid, and post presidential election 2020<\/a>, widely recognized as fraudulent<\/a>, marked the start of the largest political and human rights crisis in Belarusian modern history. Around 1500 people are recognized as political prisoners<\/a>. More than 35000<\/a> have been subjected to arbitrary detention in degrading conditions<\/a>. At least 5500<\/a> criminal cases have been initiated in connection with \u201cmass riots\u201d since the beginning of the electoral campaign. As of 1 July 2022, 11000<\/a> criminal cases were launched on \u201cextremism-related\u201d grounds. There have been at least 5000<\/a> allegations of torture and inhuman treatment, without a single criminal case initiated to investigate the reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May 2021, 15 employees of TUT.BY were arrested<\/a> and placed in a detention center. Authorities labeled TUT.BY and its social media accounts and messengers as extremist. In June 2022, the company «Tut by media», which owned the portal, was declared an extremist organization, and its activities were banned. The TUT.BY case also involved the CEO of hoster.by (LLC «Reliable Programs»), Sergey Povalishev, who was detained from May to September 2021 and announced his pardon<\/a> in April 2022. The editor-in-chief, Marina Zolotova, and the company’s CEO, Lyudmila Chekina, remained in custody and were subsequently sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
The grim reason why the Forum was not held from 2020 to 2023<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n