"The past year was even more repressive for Belarus than the two previous years. [...] Last year, human rights defenders from "Viasna" recorded no less than 8,895 instances of repression – significantly more than in 2023," the statement reads.
Human rights defenders emphasized that the actual figures could be "considerably higher" due to the fact that not all information about repression reaches them "because of the intimidation of the public."
"Presidential elections scheduled for January 2025 have intensified the arbitrary persecution of Belarusians. Solidarity raids, waves of mass arrests in small towns, dismissals from large enterprises for political reasons, detentions of former political prisoners, and those returning to Belarus from abroad – this is how 2024 is remembered," notes "Viasna."
The authors of the material believe that the "regime of [illegitimate president of Belarus Alexander] Lukashenko" continues to torment those arrested on political charges, keeping them in inhumane conditions in detention facilities."
"People are forced to sit for weeks in overcrowded cells without hygiene supplies, clean linen, or warm clothing; to sleep on the floor; to drink dirty tap water; and to go without showers. Some detainees are still held in such conditions for several months," the release states.
According to "Viasna," the most repressive part of Belarus is Minsk and the Minsk region – 2,772 people.
"In most cases, Belarusians were tried for "disseminating extremist materials" [administrative code]. However, after the mass KGB raid for solidarity in January 2024, relatives and close ones of political prisoners began to be prosecuted for "using foreign non-repayable aid for carrying out terrorist and other extremist activities or other actions prohibited by law." This article had not been used in Belarus before. The reason for the persecution was the assistance to the families of political prisoners through food deliveries by the initiative INeedHelpBY, which the authorities classified as an "extremist formation,"" human rights defenders explained.