On August 27, human rights defenders recognized 16 more people as political prisoners. The total number of people currently recognized as political prisoners in Belarus is 889.
The following names were added to the list of political prisoners:
Alena Arshanskaya, Raman Basalai, Maksim Bialkevich, Viktar Huryn, Dzmitry Zamirau, Maksim Kupreichyk, Viktoryia Liaukouskaya, Valery Melnikau, Larysa Novikava, Andrei Sliasarenka, Hienadz Tarynski, Yury Filamenka, Palina Fralova, Aliaksandr Chukovіch, Vadzim Zharabilau and Dzianis Holubieu.
Who these people are and why human rights defenders consider their cases politically motivated can be found here.
The list of all political prisoners in Belarus — here.
In total, as of this moment, 889 people have been recognized as political prisoners, according to human rights defenders' estimates. Recently, their total number has not significantly increased and has even decreased, sometimes noticeably. But this is not because repression in Belarus is decreasing — it's simply that, alongside new cases of imprisonment in criminal proceedings, there is a process of releasing those convicted who have fully served their sentences. Some are also released on pardons, including through US mediation, although new prisoners are continuously being recruited to take their place. Courts also sentence some to "home confinement" (a form of restricted freedom), after which a person leaves prison walls and is therefore no longer considered a prisoner.
It should also be noted that the statistics do not include all those imprisoned for political reasons; the real number of Belarusian political prisoners is higher. Human rights defenders simply have no information about some of them.
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