At least 360 people detained in Belarus from July to September
In three months Belarus will hold the 2025 presidential elections. But the Belarusian society is still experiencing the consequences of the last elections: every day for four years, security forces have been brutally detaining dozens of people for political reasons. The grounds for persecution may be, for example, reposts from independent media, national symbols on social media, subscriptions to favorite "extremist" Belarusian bands, and sometimes far-fetched reasons such as "did not open the door for a search." Viasna human rights defenders traditionally calculated the total number of detentions for the third quarter of 2024 and report what are the reasons for persecution in Belarusians.
Statistics of repression
According to Viasna, 1,221 cases of politically motivated repression were recorded in Belarus from July 1 to September 30. These are searches, interrogations, trials, etc. Of these, 360 are detentions. Human rights defenders are also aware of at least 400 administrative trials in three months; half of those convicted are women. But we note that all the figures may be significantly higher because human rights defenders do not have all the information about the repression.
The most common article remains 19.11 of the Administrative Code — "distribution of extremist materials". In three months, at least 380 people were convicted under it.
But according to former prisoner from Akrescina, who was serving her sentence at that time, those who were tried under the "extremist" article were released immediately, and those who were detained for "petty hooliganism" under Article 19.1 of the Administrative Code were often re-arrested after the first term ended and new reports were drawn up. This practice has been used by the authorities for several years. This allows them to keep people behind bars for several months. At the same time, care package for detainees are not accepted, so they spend their entire sentence without a change of clothes and underwear, and often without hygiene products.
"One girl fainted after an injection right in the hallway": what is happening at Akrescina?
Mass detentions in the regions
In addition, the security forces are actively detaining people in small towns of Belarus. For example, in mid-September, according to Viciebsk Viasna, 12 people were detained in Hlybokaje, including local historian and long-time social activist Pavel Laurynovich. Some of the detainees were immediately taken to the Viciebsk pre-trial detention center. They are charged under Article 342 of the Criminal Code (organization, preparation or participation in actions grossly violating public order).
Almost at the same time, mass detentions took place in Biaroza. Then the security forces reported on the detention of at least 10 people. All of them are accused of participating in post-election protests. Pro-government Telegram channels write that "for the remaining 14 involved persons, the chosen punishment is not related to imprisonment."
In September, security forces raided residents of Stolin region. According to human rights activists, more than 10 people were detained at that time.
Mass detentions also take place periodically in Baranavičy. After that, local residents are tried under Article 342 of the Criminal Code for participating in protest actions in August 2020.
Persecution of Belarusians upon their return from abroad
In addition, detentions and interrogations continue after phone checks at the Belarusian border. According to Viasna, over the past three months, security forces continued to detain Belarusians upon their return from Lithuania and Poland.
We remind you that the reason for persecution may be photos from protests in 2020, donations, comments on social media, "extremist" reposts, photos with white-red-white symbols found on phones and social media, photos from solidarity actions abroad. Security forces find this on social media when checking phones at the border. Those who are included in the BESporiadki database of security forces go through interrogations — the data of all detainees are entered there after the start of the protests in 2020.
Risks of return: criminal cases and detentions at the Belarusian border
Thus, in just nine months of 2024, at least 1,797 people were detained in Belarus.
If you have faced politically motivated persecution, have been convicted in an administrative or criminal case, or have been prosecuted in a temporary detention facility, please inform human rights defenders via Telegram @Viasnainfo. Help us record all the facts of repression in order to show the world the scale of the human rights crisis in Belarus!
A chronicle of repression over the past months:
At least 450 people were detained in Belarus from April to June
Almost a thousand people were detained in the first three months of 2024 in Belarus
