Belarusian authorities count on different approaches in recognising activists as political prisoners by EU and Belarusian human rights defenders

Belarusian human rights defenders have recognized Vyacheslav Kosinerov, an ex-figurant in the ‘graffiti case’ as a political prisoner. The authorities retain tension in the Belarusian protest movement due to criminal prosecution on mass riot charges, searches at Belsat offices and pressure on independent media journalists. Minsk attempts to focus attention on the force component in the mass riots case and anarchists’ actions, counting on discrepancies between the European structures’ and Belarusian human rights defenders’ criteria for recognizing persecuted activists as political prisoners. That said, the likelihood of criminal charges being dropped or non-guilty verdicts being pronounced in the Belarusian law enforcement and judiciary systems is low, but if pressure from European institutions enhances, the authorities could somewhat relax the accusations.