Nearly 4,700 protest-related criminal cases opened since August 2020

4,691 criminal cases related to protests have been launched since the rigged presidential election of August 9, 2020, the Investigative Committee of Belarus said.

The agency’s chairman, Dzmitry Hara, says over the 12 months the investigators have focused on cases related to the post-election protests.

“The Investigative Committee, together with other concerned departments, continue to identify and prosecute radicals, extremists, those who encroached on the sovereignty and public security of the country. The responsibility of such persons is inevitable. This was and will be the principled position of the Investigative Committee,” Dzmitry Hara said.

Most cases relate to political graffiti (Art. 341 of the Criminal Code, “desecration of buildings and damage to property”) and “insulting government officials” (Art. 369). In this category, the investigation was completed in 857 cases, with 825 more cases sent to the courts.

Human rights defenders know the names of over 800 persons convicted in politically motivated criminal trials.

599 of them are currently on the list of political prisoners.