Human rights defenders in Belarus today denounced a new wave of repression of dissidents that led to the arrest of more than 100 people – including several psychologists and psychiatrists – in a week.
Viasna, the oldest and most prominent Belarusian human rights group, said mass arrests had taken place in the capital Minsk, as well as in the east and west of the country, with authorities targeting opposition activists, journalists, professionals of health, members of shootings. sports clubs and operators of ‘drones’ (unmanned flying devices).
Viasna’s lawyer, Pavel Sapelka, told the US news agency Associated Press (AP) that Belarusian security forces are carrying out “large-scale raids and searches” of suspects involved in a recent attack on a passenger plane. Russian passengers parked near Minsk.
“Guerillas” from the country’s BYPOL opposition movement claimed responsibility for the attack on a Beriev A-50 parked at the Machulishchy airbase near the Belarusian capital.
Russia used the territory of its Belarusian allies to invade Ukraine just over a year ago, and the Belarusians continue to host Russian troops, fighter jets and other weapons.
Opposition activists claimed that their goal was to undermine the support of the Belarusian authorities for the Russian war in Ukraine.
They, in turn, indicated that they had asked Moscow, a longtime ally, to monitor their border and were initially silent about the incident.
A few days later, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko acknowledged the attack, stating that the damage done to the fighter jet was negligible, but conceding that it would have to be sent to Russia for repair.
According to the Belarusian Interior Ministry, on March 9 alone, 60 people were arrested as part of “intensified efforts against those involved in extremist groups and terrorist organizations.”
The country’s state security agency, the KGB, also reported the arrest of a Ukrainian citizen whom authorities accuse of attacking the plane and 20 Belarusian citizens accused of being accomplices.
The authorities also reported the detention of 30 people in the city of Gomel, on the border with Ukraine, “in order to identify links with foreign members of extremist groups.”
According to Viasna, the detainees in Gomel remain in custody under difficult conditions.
The group also denounced “inexplicable” mass arrests of Belarusian psychologists and psychiatrists: more than 20 doctors were detained across the country, with authorities “requiring them to violate professional doctor-patient confidentiality and to identify “unpleasant” patients who should try.”
A total of four journalists have also been arrested in Belarus in the past week; among them are Viachaslau Lazarau, detained in Vitebsk and accused of “contributing to extremist activities”, and image reporter Pavel Padabed, detained today in Minsk for a social media post dating from 2012. Another journalist, Anatol Hatouchyts, He was subjected to searches at his home.
“We are aware of a hundred detainees in Belarus, but the true scale [da operação de repressão] could be much bigger,” Sapelka said.
“Any act of resistance to the Lukashenko regime triggers a new wave of repression in Belarus,” Viasna’s lawyer noted, adding that the crackdown is aimed at “sowing more fear in an already intimidated society.”
The Belarusian authorities carried out a large-scale crackdown on dissidents in 2020 and it has continued in fits and starts ever since. It arose in response to the mass protest that followed the August 2020 election that gave Lukashenko a new presidential term.
Opposition politicians and Western countries classified the poll results as fraudulent.
Lukashenko, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who backed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has ruled the former Soviet republic with an iron fist since 1994: more than 35,000 people have been arrested and thousands beaten by the police. during the protests, the largest ever held in the country.
“Arrests, raids, torture behind bars continue in Belarus, political prisoners are being pressured and independent media are being labeled as extremists,” Sapelka described, adding that “repression against those who actively express their views about the war in Ukraine, provoked by Russia, intensifies with each passing day”.
Source: TSF
