Viasna: at least 54 people convicted of crimes in “political” trials in September

October 11, Pozirk. Belarusian courts convicted at least 139 people for political reasons in September, 17 fewer than in August, the Viasna center reports.

According to the human rights center, at least 77 people were sentenced in Minsk, eight in the Minsk region, 13 in the Brest region, 15 in the Homiel region, 10 in the Viciebsk region, and four in the Hrodna region.

Of them, 54 people, including 22 women, were convicted of crimes. The others were convicted of minor offenses.

At least 386 instances of politically-motivated prosecution, including 339 trials, were documented in September. Authorities held 79 people in detention for a total of 945 days under the Administrative Offenses Code, and fined 46 people a total of 34,743 rubels (about $10,500).

Ten people were declared political prisoners. They were prosecuted under a criminal article against disorderly conduct, which is often used to silence protesters.

In more than 300 cases, authorities used a “classic repressive practice” of arresting people for allegedly disseminating extremist content, Viasna said in a digest for that month.