Andrey Chapyuk
Andrey Chapyuk is a human rights defender from Belarus and volunteer at Human Rights Centre Viasna. In 2021 Andrey Chapyuk and other human rights defenders Marfa Rabkova, Leanid Sudalenka, and Tatsiana Lasitsa became the finalists of the People in Need 2020s Homo Homini Award for promotion of human rights and democracy and nonviolent solutions to political conflicts.
The environment for the work of human rights defenders (HRDs) in Belarus has continuously deteriorated since an authoritarian political regime was established there in 1994. HRDs are systematically subjected to intimidation and harassment, including judicial harassment, restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly, and movement, as well as arbitrary detention and conviction, ill-treatment and defamation, searches of offices and personal belongings, and confiscations of equipment. The widespread impunity of law enforcement officers contributes to even further human rights violations and retaliations against HRDs.
