At least 46,700 detained for dissent over past three years

Human rights defenders from the Viasna Human Rights Center have collected information about the three years of repression unleashed against Belarusians by Aliaksandr Lukashenka's regime since August 9, 2020. Below are just a few numbers related to the administrative persecution of Belarusians. Authorities in Belarus have detained at least 46,700 people for political reasons in the last three years. Human rights defenders underline that this is clearly an underestimate, because not all detention cases were known to human rights activists.

During this period, Belarusian courts imposed at least 7,560 fines totaling 5,090,295 BYN (more than $1,615,000). As many as 13,315 times judges ordered arrests of people for their political activities or views. Belarusian political prisoners spent 134,356 days in isolation cells. Some cases were dropped, but human rights activists know of only 173 such instances.  

"Every day for three years people have been thrown behind bars in inhumane conditions, without hygiene products and a change of clothes. People who have been in detention for three months only get fresh air when they are taken to the police station to draw up a new protocol," human rights activists reported about the attitude towards political prisoners.