News on the topic: political prisoners
17.09.2024 Sister of Belarus protest leader Maryia Kalesnikava says she's starving in prison
Four years on from her arrest, Maryia Kalesnikava, 42, is being held incommunicado in a tiny, stinking prison cell where the toilet is a hole in the floor, her sister Tatsiana Khomich says.
16.09.2024 The statement on the recognition of 22 people as political prisoners
Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community
16.09.2024 Risks of return: criminal cases and detentions at the Belarusian border
According to Viasna, since the beginning of 2024, more than 55 people have been detained upon their return to Belarus, 17 of whom have been prosecuted.
16.09.2024 New criminal case initiated against political prisoner Mikola Dziadok
Political prisoner Mikola Dziadok, sentenced to five years in a penal colony, was supposed to be released on April 25, 2025.
12.09.2024 Home confinement replaced with penal colonies en masse: the reasons and who it affects
Viasna, together with lawyer Vika Rudziankova, explains the reasons for changing the punishment, which kinds of violations are punished, and what is considered malicious evasion from serving a sentence.
11.09.2024 In September, at least 16 women are tried for solidarity with political prisoners
For four months now, trials of women who were detained during the January KGB raid for solidarity with political prisoners have been taking place in Belarus.
11.09.2024 Will the pardoned political prisoners be granted expungement?
Former political prisoner and Viasna human rights defender Leanid Sudalenka speaks about the specifics of pardoning and figures out whether the pardoned people will be excluded from the lists of "extremists and terrorists" and how the Interior Ministry can monitor their "law-abiding behavior."
06.09.2024 We demand the rehabilitation of 19 former political prisoners
Joint statement by the Belarusian human rights community
06.09.2024 "There are at least 16 political prisoners with disabilities behind bars." The alternative report to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities met with the Belarusian civil society, in particular with those people who prepared an alternative report on Belarus.
05.09.2024 30 more political prisoners pardoned in Belarus
It is reported that among them there are 7 women and 23 men.
05.09.2024 More than 30 political prisoners fully served their sentences in August, and 22 more were pardoned
What political prisoners served their sentences for and how many of them were imprisoned — Viasna recalls their cases.
04.09.2024 Statement on the recognition of five people as political prisoners
Joint statement of representatives of the Belarusian human rights community
04.09.2024 Political prisoner Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk's health deteriorates sharply
Palina's husband Andrei Sharenda wrote about the sharp deterioration of her health. She suffers from sharp pains on the side of her abdomen, but no medical help is provided to her.
03.09.2024 Political prisoner previously convicted for liking the post is retried. He now faces up to 15 years in prison.
On September 2, the Brest Regional Court began a new trial of Yauhen Kladau, a 41-year-old political prisoner, who was sentenced in November 2023 to one year's imprisonment for "insulting Lukashenka".
02.09.2024 "No one will know that you are sitting there beaten." Former political prisoner on the harsh conditions in the Vitsba penal colony
Mikalai spent almost two years in prison. In June, the man was released. He told Viasna how prisoners are deprived of the right to medical care and forced to do hard labor, about denunciations of the Belarusian language, beatings of prisoners, as well as severe restrictions on political activity.
