Torture in Belarus. Photo: belsat.eu
The Government of Belarus has committed widespread human rights violations against the country’s civilian population, some amounting to crimes against humanity, as part of a brutal effort to quash all opposition to the rule of President Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the UN Group of Independent Experts on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus warned in a new report today.
Among the most egregious violations documented are arbitrary arrests and detention on politically motivated grounds, which have become a fixture of the tactics of Belarusian authorities.
The report found that men and women in detention had been routinely subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including beatings, electric shocks and threats to rape not only detainees but their partners as well. Security forces displayed marked brutality towards LGBTIQ+ individuals, using physical violence and dehumanizing language.
The report, the Group of Experts’ first to the Human Rights Council since it was established in April 2024, said the violations had occurred in the context of broader efforts to keep President Aleksandr Lukashenko in power.
The violations, it said, were widespread, systematic and directed against civilians critical of the Government. The Group of Experts found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that some violations amount to the crimes against humanity of imprisonment and persecution on political grounds.
Those detained in penal colonies have been subjected to a particularly discriminatory treatment designed to punish them, which more broadly serves to crush political resistance. Many have been arrested multiple times, including immediately after being released for the first time.
