On April 7, human rights defenders recognized 17 more people as political prisoners. The total number of people currently recognized as political prisoners in Belarus is 922.
The following names have been added to the list of political prisoners:
Mikhail Palaznik, Yulia Kovalenko, Anastasia Kovalenko, Aliaksei Pustakhod, Andrei Yankovich, Dzmitry Kazhadub, Tsimafei Pugachou, Dzmitry Kasenka, Siarhei Komar, Andrei Balmakov, Aliaksandr Hetchanka, Dzmitry Chausau, Aliaksandr Chykindzin, Anatol Kalinouski, Yury Rukshata, Siarhei Shcharbakou, Viktar Yaumenenka.
You can find out who these people are and why human rights defenders consider their cases politically motivated here.
The list of all political prisoners in Belarus is here.
In total, as of now, 922 people have been recognized as political prisoners, according to human rights defenders. Lately, their total number has not significantly grown and has even decreased, sometimes noticeably. However, this is not because repression in Belarus is decreasing — it's simply that, parallel to new cases of imprisonment in criminal cases, there is a process of releasing those convicted who have fully served their sentences. Some are also released through pardons, including with US mediation, although new prisoners are constantly being recruited in their place. Courts also sentence some to "restricted freedom" (often colloquially termed "house chemistry"), after which the person leaves prison walls and is therefore no longer considered a prisoner.
It is also worth noting that the statistics do not include all those imprisoned for political reasons; the real number of Belarusian political prisoners is higher. Human rights defenders simply have no information about some of them.
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