{"id":98570,"date":"2024-08-01T15:42:34","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T12:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/98570\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"viasnas-lawyer-government-unlikely-to-scale-back-reprisals","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/98570\/","title":{"rendered":"Viasna\u2019s lawyer: government unlikely to scale back reprisals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

August 1, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Belarusian authorities may expand the range of criminal charges used for politically-motivated persecution of regime critics, Pavie\u0142 Sapie\u0142ka, a lawyer at the Viasna Human Rights Center said yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2025 expiry of the statute of limitations for criminal persecution under Article 342 (the organization or preparation of actions grossly violating public order or active participation in such actions) may lower the conviction rate in connection with 2020 postelection protests, yet extremism-related cases are likely to keep rising, he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2020, authorities reported opening 19,000 criminal extremism-related cases, with an annual growth of 5,000, Sapie\u0142ka said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the number of cases does not reflect the number of defendants, it still makes it possible to assess the scale of reprisals, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politically-motivated cases hit a four-year high of 450 in the second quarter of 2024, rights groups data shows. The number of new political prisoners soared by 80 percent to 178 compared to the first quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least 50,000 people have been persecuted on political grounds since 2020, according to Viasna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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