Over 6,300 arrested on politically motivated minor charges in 2022

January 5, BPN. At least 6,380 people were arrested on politically motivated minor charges in Belarus in 2022, the Viasna Human Rights Center has said in a report.

The center knows the details on 4,913 men, 1,419 women and 15 minors prosecuted under the Administrative Offences Code.

Most of the arrests, 3,334, were recorded in Minsk. Under various “political” articles, 683 people were arrested in the Brest region, 682 in the Homiel region, 558 in the Hrodna region, 448 in the Viciebsk region, 341 in the Mahiloŭ region, and 206 in the Minsk region. In the remaining 128 cases, the location has not been identified by the center.

Viasna said that at least 3,272 court decisions on these cases were made last year. It knows about 2,274 jail sentences totaling 28,804 days (almost 78 years). Courts have imposed at least 938 fines for a total of 888,224 rubels (almost $325,000). Only 47 cases were dismissed.

The center highlighted a tactic of repeated arrests, when police file new reports against those already serving jail sentences. “This way they can keep people behind bars without hygiene products and extra underwear for months,” Viasna said.

In 2022, human rights activists documented numerous cases of “torture and inhumane treatment” of arrestees and administrative convicts.

“We know cases of Belarusians attacked with truncheons, a frying pan, a stun gun, metal detectors or boots when arrested. They put trash buckets or motorcycle helmets on people’s heads and hit them with truncheons. Often, in order to force detainees to testify, law enforcers shoot them with electric tasers,” the report reads.

Viasna also gives examples of how, after the mass arrests for last February’s anti-war rallies, “people were not only beaten, they were also tortured right there at Akreścina [detention center]: canister gas was sprayed on the shower ventilation, people were walked on, stomped on the back, taken out into the hallway and beaten.”

The human rights center said the practice of holding administrative detainees in “inhumane conditions” has persisted since 2020.

“Cells are constantly overcrowded. People have to sleep on the floor, under the bed, on the bench. Homeless people are placed in their cells as extra pressure. Lights are always on at night and by day. People held in detention for three months get fresh air only when taken to a police department to face new charges,” Viasna said.