Belarus regime targets former political prisoners, raiding homes over "extremist" ties
12:24 PM EST, January 23, 2024
"Mass searches and detentions, including of former political prisoners and relatives of political prisoners, are taking place in these hours all over #Belarus. There are hundreds of searches and detentions across the country. The main reason is donations to NGOs," reports Pavel Latushka, a Belarusian oppositionist and representative of the National Anti-crisis Management, on his platform X profile.
As belsat.eu reports, the rationale for these searches and detentions is the policy set by the Belarusian regime on 'funding' and 'participation in extremist groups'. The list established by the Minsk officials contains hundreds of these entities, with new ones being added continuously.
In the morning, based on information from Radio Svaboda journalists, Alexey Romanov, a former political prisoner, had his apartment in Gomel raided, and was subsequently transported to the KGB for interrogation. He was arrested under the charges of being part of an "extremist formation".
Reports from Radio Svaboda journalists also highlight additional arrests and house searches involving families and relatives of political prisoners. The officers are seeking proof of 'funding extremist organizations', in simple terms, evidence of money transfers to non-profit organizations.
Viasna Human Rights Center has reported on its Telegram channel that at least 24 people have been detained thus far. They also note that Belarus currently has 1415 political prisoners.
Elections approaching in Belarus
In a conversation with a Polish site rmf24.pl, Pavel Latushka expressed his belief that these actions are merely Lukashenko's power display ahead of the forthcoming elections.
- He aims to ensure smooth proceedings, to suppress all protests before the parliamentary elections scheduled for February 25 - he explained.
As reported by belsat.eu, human rights advocates are advising the relatives of political prisoners and former political prisoners to heighten their safety measures, especially by getting rid of correspondence that could attract the security forces' attention. They are also providing guidance on purging data from computers and mobile phones.
