It is the latest crackdown on human rights and democracy activists ahead of parliamentary and local government elections in February.
Activists’ phones are reportedly being searched during searches and they are being forced to sign warnings against “promoting extremist activities”. Several activists have previously been charged with these activities and face up to seven years in prison.
The State Security Committee (KGB) of Belarus is forcing activists who also monitored the 2020 presidential election to record videos expressing regret for their activities.
The authorities have not made any comments.
The crackdown followed a wave of protests in August 2020 following disputed elections in which authoritarian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko was declared the winner. The opposition and the West consider those elections rigged.
The months-long protests were the largest and longest-running resistance movement since he came to power in 1994 and began cracking down on independent media and opposition.
More than 35 thousand people were detained, many of them suffered torture, many residents went abroad.
“Viasna” human rights activist Pavel Sapelka called the latest raids another attack on civil society and revenge by authorities for independent monitoring of the 2020 elections.
“We see that repression is increasing before the elections in Belarus, and the authorities are again trying to intimidate all active people,” he said.
“Human rights activists and volunteers are already forced to operate almost underground, but continue their work,” added P. Sapelka.
At the end of November, the homes of relatives of opposition leaders and activists who had already left the country were searched.
According to Viasna, there are currently 1,474 political prisoners in the country, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Alesi Bialiacki.
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2024-08-09 00:13:00
