Ihar Losik, a Belarusian journalist and political prisoner, attempted suicide in a penal colony. He has been on hunger strike for a long time while in solitary confinement in the Navapolatsk penal colony and then cut his hands and neck. Ihar is alive and is...
On International Women’s Day, the Viasna Human Rights Center tells how and why Lukashenko’s regime persecutes Belarusian women. In 2020, the majority of the Belarusian people voted for Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in the presidential election – contrary to the...
Lawyer of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Office Kristina Rikhter commented on the amendments to Belarus’ Law on Citizenship: “The adopted amendments to the Law on Citizenship are clearly targeting the Belarusian citizens forced to flee the country for fear of...
According to the Viasna Human Rights Center, at least 354 Belarusians were detained in November 2022 for protesting against the dictatorship and war in Ukraine. This means 11 people were detained every day. Arrests, trials, beatings, and torture take place...
Press secretary of Belarus’ Foreign Ministry Anatoly Glaz said that no polling stations for the constitutional referendum on February 27 will be opened abroad. The official cited the “lack of staff in some embassies” and the coronavirus pandemic as reasons for this...
The number of political prisoners in Belarus exceeded 1,000 people. According to “Viasna” human rights center, today there are 1022 of them in the country. The number of people held in prisons for political reasons is even higher because many refuse such...
FIDH releases a briefing paper analysing foreign-made less lethal weapons and firearms employed by the Belarusian security forces to crack down on peaceful protesters, provides an overview of their procurement and application, and outlines possible avenues for state...
At the end of 2021, there were 969 political prisoners in Belarus. This is the largest number of political prisoners in the history of independent Belarus. There are people of all ages, professions and social status among the prisoners, but they are united by one...
Today, Gomel Regional Court has sentenced the defendants in the “Tsikhanouski’s case” in which Siarhei Tsikhanouski was sentenced to 18 years in a strengthened regime prison colony, and other political prisoners were sentenced to 14-16 years. We tell how...
For over a year now, the Belarusian opposition politician Maria Kalesnikava has been behind bars. During the presidential campaign in 2020, she was in charge of Viktar Babaryka’s team and, after the protests began, she joined the activities of the opposition’s...
On 3 December, a Minsk court has sentenced Volha Zalatar, to a mother of five children and a political prisoner. She was found guilty of creating an extremist group and sentenced to four years in a general regime colony, the human rights center Viasna reported....
