Clampdown in Belarus

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May 31, 2024

Belarus Widens Crackdown on Defenders

Belarus’s machinery of repression has shifted into overdrive since the country’s contested August 2020 re-election of President Lukashenka, who had already served more than 26 years.

Immediately after the election, security forces detained thousands of people, tortured or otherwise mistreated many of them, and made them stand trial on criminal charges.

Since then, authorities have shut down any form of dissent with iron-fisted repression. Government critics have been forced into exile or thrown behind bars, and the number of political prisoners in the country has swelled to more than 1,300.

Systematic Crackdown

A new Human Rights Watch report shows it isn’t just protesters and critics facing the ire of Belarusian authorities. Those who step up to defend them in court are also being targeted in the government’s ruthless crackdown.

“These days, a defense lawyer understands that by defending political prisoners they are not only potentially losing the right to exercise their profession, but can also lose their freedom,” one lawyer told us.