More than 3,270 people were convicted for participating in protests against the falsified election results in 2020
Early voting in the seventh presidential election* is taking place in Belarus, but it is happening in a climate of fear and repression. This is the fifth year of large-scale repression carried out by the regime: arrests and criminal trials are taking place, for participating in protests against the falsified results of the last presidential election among other things. Human rights defenders report how many people have been criminally convicted for participating in demonstrations, and Viasna lawyer Sviatlana Halauniova comments on the situation.
- Illustration by spring96.org
The persecution of protesters takes place under articles 342 (active participation in actions grossly violating public order), 342-2 (repeated violation of the order of organization or holding of mass events), and 293 (mass riots) of the Criminal Code. According to the human rights center Viasna, since 2020, at least 3,277 people have been convicted under these articles in Belarus. The figure may be higher, as the regime hides the true scale of repression. It should be noted that this is almost half of all those convicted on politically motivated grounds since 2020.
As noted by Viasna lawyer Sviatlana Halauniova, during the seventh presidential election, the level of control over all events near these elections* feels stronger than during the 2022 referendum and the single voting day of 2024.
"Despite small waves of pardons for some political prisoners, the overall level of persecution is high. New repressive legislation and practices are constantly emerging. Thus, in 2024, we saw a huge number of videos recorded under duress, learned about the cage in a women's penal colony, observed increased persecution of queer people and the LGBTQ+ community, an upsurge in repressive practices against people who support political prisoners, as well as new pressure practices in the workplaces. Some of these trends developed independently from the elections, and some were clearly related. The climate of fear continues to prevail, and participation in public and political life is openly prohibited."
For the fifth year now, the most common method of prosecuting protesters has been Article 342 of the Criminal Code. At least 3016 people were convicted under it. The trials are still ongoing. Only from January 13 to January 17, Belarusian courts heard cases against 23 people under Article 342 of the Criminal Code.
The lawyer of Viasna notes that the statute of limitations under Article 342 of the Criminal Code ends in almost six months:
"Of the cases of politically motivated persecution known to us, the largest number of cases in recent years remain under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code, for participation in street protests. The statute of limitations for this article is five years. That means that soon the authorities will not be able to actively detain the participants of the 2020 protests, identified by photographs and videos."
