Belarus: Unprecedented Raids on Human Rights Defenders

Countrywide Searches, Detentions Also Target Journalists, Critics
Belarusian riot police block the road to stop demonstrators during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus on November 15, 2020.
© 2021 AP Photo
(Berlin) – Belarusian authorities carried out a day of massive, unprecedented raids and detentions against the Belarus human rights community on July 14, 2021, Human Rights Watch said today.
Police in at least 10 cities searched homes and offices of the country’s major human rights organizations and their staff, seizing documents, computers, and other devices. The police detained at least 12 human rights defenders and journalist for interrogation, and at least nine remain in custody. At least three of those targeted told the media that law enforcement officers said the searches were part of a criminal investigation into public order violations linked to mass protests that followed the disputed August 9, 2020 presidential elections.

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