Human rights defenders from the Human rights center “Viasna” prepared an overview of the human rights situation in Belarus in August. They write that the country “maintains a critically high level of repression.”
In August, 1,376 political prisoners were held in places of detention, whose status was recognized by human rights defenders. It is known about 30 political prisoners who were released due to the full completion of their prison term. Also on August 16, a decree was signed pardoning 30 political prisoners (the names of eight released are unknown to human rights defenders).
In August, information was received almost daily about the detentions that are taking place throughout the country. But “due to the atmosphere of fear and the threat of additional repression,” not all cases of persecution and detention are known.