TALLINN, Estonia — In anticipation of the upcoming January election where President Alexander Lukashenko aims to secure a seventh term, Belarusian authorities have intensified their crackdown on dissent. Rights organizations are reporting a fresh wave of arrests aimed at stifling any opposition ahead of the vote.
According to the Viasna human rights center, over 100 individuals have been detained nationwide since last Thursday. The arrests appear to be primarily directed at individuals involved in online community chats established by residents in various city neighborhoods, which have previously served as platforms for organizing protests.
These online chats gained prominence during the large-scale protests that erupted following the 2020 presidential election, which many in the opposition and international observers considered fraudulent. In response to those protests, authorities conducted a mass crackdown resulting in the detention of approximately 65,000 people. Many key opposition leaders were either imprisoned or forced into exile during this period. Currently, human rights advocates estimate that there are about 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, with many lacking proper medical care and restricted from contacting their families.
In the lead-up to these recent arrests, the Belarusian government declared numerous online discussions as part of an “extremist” network. Citizens created such chats to facilitate discussions about community concerns like building maintenance and shared services. Some individuals apprehended have been accused of plotting a “conspiracy to seize power,” a charge that could result in a prison term of up to 15 years.
Belarusian prisons are significantly overcrowded, with reports indicating that 15 to 20 inmates are squeezed into cells originally designed for a maximum of three people. Viasna representative Pavel Sapelka described the recent actions by authorities as a calculated intimidation strategy intended to instill fear ahead of the elections.
Earlier this week, the Central Election Commission in Belarus permitted seven candidates, aligned with Lukashenko, to commence gathering signatures in a move that appears designed to create an illusion of electoral competition. However, two opposition figures have been denied the same opportunity to collect signatures to participate in the race.
In exile after facing off against Lukashenko in the 2020 election, opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has called on Western nations to take action regarding the recent arrests. She stated, “The scale of the latest wave of repression reflects the atmosphere of terror for the sham presidential vote,” and she has encouraged citizens to cast their ballots against all candidates in the impending election.