In Belarus, at least 200 people were convicted for their anti-war stance during the 1,000 days of full-scale war – “Vyasna”

In Belarus, during the 1,000 days of full-scale war in Ukraine, at least 200 people were sentenced to terms ranging from one to 25 years of restriction or deprivation of liberty for their anti-war stance. Some of them were sent to psychiatric hospitals for forced treatment, the human rights center “Vyasna” reports.

A human rights report published on February 24, 2024 said that at least 1,671 people were detained in Belarus for expressing an anti-war stance. The number of detainees has probably increased since then. Some of them were tortured, kept in inhumane conditions, fined or sentenced to administrative arrest, as well as sentenced to real terms.

One of them, the German citizen Rico Krieger, was sentenced to death in the case of the explosion at the Ozerishche railway station near Minsk in October 2023. On July 30, Oleksandr Lukashenko pardoned him, and the next day it became known that Krieger had been exchanged and he returned to Germany.

In general, according to “Vyasna”, as of November 19, 1,269 people were recognized as political prisoners in Belarus. Some of them are kept in complete isolation, and their relatives do not know what is happening to them for years.