{"id":154133,"date":"2025-09-06T21:46:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T18:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/154133\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"new-viasna-report-says-number-of-political-prisoners-critical","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/154133\/","title":{"rendered":"New Viasna report says number of political prisoners critical"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

September 6, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Belarusian activists identified 37 political prisoners in August, the Viasna center has said in a monthly human rights report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the month, there were 1,187 political prisoners, including 180 women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After May 2020, the political prisoner status was given to 4,081 people. Of them, 2,894 people, including 597 women, are free after serving their sentences or seeing their punishments changed\/lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viasna noted that the number of political prisoners in Belarus remained critically high despite the releases. The center attributed the level to the ongoing repression, juxtaposing it to official claims that resistance to \u0141uka\u0161enka had been totally suppressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2020, at least 8,730 people have faced criminal prosecution for political reasons and at least 7,400 people have received politically motivated sentences; of them, 34 individuals have been sent for compulsory psychiatric treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, Viasna documented 72 cases of politically motivated repression, including arrests and searches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also in August, the Ministry of Information added 31 books to the list of titles banned from distribution in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reduction in known cases of repression in 2025 \u201cis connected to the lack of access to public, disaggregated state statistics on administrative and criminal prosecution,\u201d the human rights center stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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