On October 2, human rights defenders recognized 12 more people as political prisoners. The total number of people currently recognized as political prisoners in Belarus is 888.
The following names have been added to the list of political prisoners:
Dzmitry Rudakou, Artsiom Merkel, Anatol Mindziyarau, Maksim Syamyenchanka, Zhanna Yaskuld, Vital Dzyamidchyk, Pavel Bazhko, Andrei Ausyannikau, Ilya Halyhin, Vital Halavach, Yauhen Dzyarunou, and Andrei Tsivkou.
Who these people are and why human rights defenders consider their cases politically motivated can be found here.
The list of all political prisoners in Belarus is here.
In total, 888 people are currently recognized as political prisoners, according to human rights defenders. Recently, their total number has not significantly increased and has even decreased, sometimes noticeably. However, this is not because repressions in Belarus are diminishing — rather, in parallel with 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 by pardons, including through the mediation of the United States, although new prisoners are constantly being added in their place. Courts also sentence some to "home chemistry" (a form of correctional labor with restrictions on freedom, similar to house arrest), after which the person leaves prison and is therefore no longer considered a prisoner.
It should also be noted 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 do not know anything about some of them.
Two sons taken from a Belarusian woman in Italy — because she did not recognize the state and did not send her children to school or to the doctor 1414
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