Belarus keeps up crackdown on dissent even as authorities free some prisoners, rights group says

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) – Authorities in Belarus continue their unrelenting crackdown on dissent even as they release some prisoners, the country’s leading rights group told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Last month, the Belarusian government pardoned and released 14 prisoners, but at least 60 more people were arrested on politically motivated charges, said Pavel Sapelka, a rights advocate with the Viasna human rights center. In May, the center counted more than 100 politically driven arrests, Sapelka said.

“The steamroller of repressions doesn’t stop, and the authorities continue to stifle any dissent in Belarus, opening new high-profile cases,” Sapelka told the AP on Tuesday. “No one, absolutely no one can feel safe in Belarus.”

Mass arrests and convictions of government critics in Belarus have continued since 2020, when Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was handed a sixth term in office in an election that the opposition and the West denounced as rigged.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in protest, in the biggest demonstrations that the country’s ever seen. Authorities unleashed a violent crackdown in response, detaining and beating thousands and driving many more into exile abroad. The crackdown drew international condemnation, and the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on Belarus.

Viasna has recorded 1,174 people behind bars as political prisoners. The number includes 38 journalists and the group’s founder, Ales Bialiatski, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. At least eight political prisoners have died behind bars.

Lukashenko, who in January secured another term in office in another election the opposition denounced as a sham, has recently been pardoning some of the political prisoners, seeking to improve ties with the West. In total, he has pardoned and freed more than 300 prisoners since July 2024, including some U.S. citizens and other foreigners.

Last month, Belarusian authorities released prominent opposition figure Siarhei Tsikhanouski and 13 others and brought them to Lithuania. Their release came just hours after Belarusian authorities announced that Lukashenko met with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

But rights advocates argue that the situation in Belarus hasn’t changed, and authorities have recently opened several new high-profile cases, which indicates their intention to continue the crackdown.

At least 20 people have been arrested in the case against Belaruski Hajun, a Belarusian activist group that monitors troops movements in Belarus, Sapelka said.

Viasna on Monday also reported the arrest of popular Belarusian signer Aleh Hamenka, who is being accused of taking part in anti-government protests. Another case involves sociologists from the Wardomacki sociological research laboratory, according to Sapelka.

Nils Muižnieks, U.N.’s special rapporteur for human rights in Belarus, has recently said that “there is no sign of improvement in the human rights situation in Belarus, and the authorities are disregarding offers of cooperation.”