The situation of human rights violations in Belarus remains catastrophic. Human rights organisation “Viasna” has calculated the number of “political” detentions in the first quarter of 2024.
According to “Viasna”, from January 1 to March 31 human rights defenders in Belarus recorded at least 987 detentions, of which a third of the detainees were women.
Most of the detentions occurred in January — 406. It was then that the KGB carried out a massive raid for food aid on the initiative of INeedHelpBY. 65 detainees have minor children.
Human rights defenders are also aware of at least 1,602 administrative courts during this time. In February alone, the Belarusian courts considered at least 671 cases. That month, the authorities began to try for “using foreign aid to carry out extremist activities.” This article has not been used in Belarus before.
Human rights activists point out that all the figures can be much higher, since they do not have all the information about the repression.