Security forces arrest political prisoners’ relatives across Belarus

January 23, Pozirk. Security forces have arrested political prisoners’ relatives across Belarus, sources said. Pozirk can confirm two such cases. The Viasna Human Rights Center reports that at least 24 people have been detained.

BYSOL Solidarity Foundation co-founder Andrej Stryžak said today that the Committee for State Security (KGB) carried out mass raids in different cities. He called on people to take care of their safety and delete any correspondence with the foundation.

The Dissidеntbу group told Mediazona about “some five” arrests of political prisoners’ relatives or former political prisoners.

A source told Pozirk that security forces arrested the husband and mother of a political prisoner this morning. Their phones are off, and their relatives do not know their whereabouts. It is unclear which agency arrested them and on what grounds.

Viasna reported that security forces are threatening extremism charges. A state-linked Telegram channel claimed that investigators gained access to a list of BYSOL’s donors. Stryžak dismissed the claim.

“Yesterday’s counterattacks on foundations’ websites, social media of civil society organizations, today’s raids across the whole country, an extremist label for our colleagues from IndeedHelp, and a new wave of disinformation about BYSOL activities look like a complex attack on the system supporting political prisoners and on civil society countering Łukašenka’s terror,” he said. “This tells us that the cops have received a bucket of money in the run-up to the elections and can take more action soon.”

A source told Pozirk that at least five people, two in Navapołack and one in Połack, were arrested in a raid in the Viciebsk region.