On 22 March 2023, woman human rights defender and lawyer, Inessa Olenskaya, who acted as a defense attorney for the woman human rights defender Nasta Loika, failed to pass the attestation by the Qualification Commission under the Ministry of Justice, which will lead to the lawyer’s eventual disbarment. This is the second human rights lawyer working on Nasta Loika’s case, who was disbarred. In November 2022, another woman human rights defender and human rights lawyer defending Nasta Loika, Tatsiana Lishankova, was detained and subsequently lost her license to practice law. Front Line Defenders considers such targeting of human rights lawyers working on Nasta Loika’s defense as a systemic violation of the woman human rights defender’s right to defense.
Nasta Loika is a prominent Belarusian woman human rights defender working in the field of human rights education. She also addresses repressive “anti-extremist” laws, and advocates for the protection of the migrants and stateless people’s rights in Belarus. In the summer of 2021, Belarusian authorities shut down the organization where Nasta Loika previously worked – Human Constanta, which promoted public interests and joint actions in response to modern challenges in the field of human rights – as a part of an orchestrated attack against the civil society in the country. The woman human rights defender is the recipient of the Human Rights Defender of the Year 2022 award in recognition of her outstanding work from the Belarus human rights community. Inessa Olenskaya and Tatsiana Lishankova are women human rights defenders and lawyers, who defend the rights of political prisoners in Belarus.
On 22 March 2023, woman human rights defender and lawyer, Inessa Olenskaya, who acted as a defense attorney for Nasta Loika, failed to pass the attestation by the Minsk City Qualification Commission of the National Bar Association, which will lead to the lawyer’s eventual disbarment. The Qualification Commission stated that Inessa Olenskaya does not possess enough qualifications to act as a defense attorney. This is the second human rights lawyer working on Nasta Loika’s case who has been disbarred. On 29 November 2022, another woman human rights defender and lawyer, Tatsiana Lishankova, who acted as a defense attorney for Nasta Loika, was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest on “petty hooliganism” charges, a violation under Article 19.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. After the arrest, on 23 December 2022, the Minsk City Qualification Commission of the National Bar Association expelled Tatsiana Lishankova for alleged actions that discredit the Bar. On 22 January 2023, the Bar Qualification Commission of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus took away Tatsiana Lishankova’s license to practice law. The Belarus authorities engage in systemic persecution of human rights lawyers for their legitimate legal work, not only through disbarment, but also through administrative and criminal persecution.
[…]
https://www.
https://www.defenders.by/
