Right to Defence Launches a #скажыадвакатудзякуй (#saythankstoattorney) Initiative

May 21 is declared in Belarus as the Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners. At present, there are nearly one and a half thousand political prisoners in Belarus.

In 2023, our project "Right to Defence" and the Belarusian Association of Human Rights Lawyers prepared a mini-album titled "34 Years for Four: Belarusian Attorneys in Prison (and Life)" for the Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners, in which we told the stories of our colleagues who were unjustly convicted for remaining professionals, faithful to their duty and conscience. As part of the #write_to_attorney campaign, many Belarusians expressed their solidarity with imprisoned defenders by writing letters to them. These kind words are important both for the political prisoners themselves and for their families facing total injustice and unfairness.

This year, in addition to the mentioned initiatives, our project launches a new one - #say_thanks_to_attorney. It is no secret that the justice system in Belarus does not function properly in political cases. It is not even a legal default but a systemic and managed denial of justice. Opponents of the government and dissenters cannot achieve justice; their verdicts are predetermined, and their situation is terrible. When the entire justice system is geared toward punishment, it is often the attorney who remains the only ally, allowing the political prisoner to feel normal and right. It is clear that not all attorneys assist in this, as it is clear that the legal profession has practically developed into a subdivision of the Ministry of Justice in the implementation of state policy. However, we are confident that there are still many defenders to say thanks to. In our time of total destruction of state priorities, what is good and what is bad, attorneys who honestly fulfil their duty to defend clients, still take on such cases, and risk a lot, also need support.

If you have been or are a political prisoner, or if your loved one has been or is a political prisoner, and you have something to thank an attorney for, we ask you to share your kind words with us. We understand the slim chances of a positive decision in court and the statistics on such cases since 2020, as well as the minimal possibility for defenders to influence a situation where everything is predetermined, so we urge you to share stories of humanity, support, and what seemed vital and precious to you. The legal profession is a crucial part of the justice system, and a single attorney who honestly and selflessly helps people deserves not to be identified with what the legal profession has become now, but to receive words of gratitude.

So, we invite you to participate in the #say_thanks_to_attorney campaign until May 20, 2024. As part of this project, we invite you to send us your warm stories about how an attorney helped you, your kind words to your defender to defendersbelarus@protonmail.com. It could be a story of support, it could be a story of help in realising the unfairness of what is happening when everyone around is making a criminal out of a person, it could just be conversations that helped you get by. Please note that attorneys are at risk of repression just like their clients, so we urge you to refrain from using names of both clients and their defenders, as well as personal details, unless you are absolutely sure that the attorney is safe. We will publish the stories we receive on May 21, 2024, on the Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners.

We also invite civil society organisations to support the campaign, join it, and spread information about it through their channels. The way attorneys got involved in defending affected Belarusians after the protests in 2020 was a very important part of the maturation of Belarusian society, and it is important to remember about it and support it.