2.1. Human rights context
Following the 2020 presidential elections, the authorities unrolled broad and systematic efforts aimed at supressing any form of dissent,128 resulting in an environment marked by ‘fear, censorship and self-censorship’.129 The campaign to penalise public criticism continued through 2024130 and 2025,131 with politically motivated charges used against political opponents, civil society actors, and ordinary citizens expressing dissent.132 In the first months of 2026, the human rights situation has remained ‘severe’ as the repression continued.133
Through the security apparatus, the Belarusian authorities systematically restrict freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.134 State practices aimed at suppression and punishment of any dissent rely on a range of measures, such as various restrictions, surveillance, intimidation, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, ill-treatment, and forced exile.135 Unlike the period before 2020, when waves of arrests and detentions gradually subsided, arrests and detentions following the 2020 protests have persisted. At the same time, the focus of politically motivated prosecutions has shifted from punishing protesters to targeting those who express criticism of the authorities,136 with a growing number of prosecutions being ‘related to the war in Ukraine.’137
The UN Group of Independent Experts on the Situation of Human Rights of Belarus noted that arbitrary arrest and detention of those who oppose the authorities or are perceived as doing so, became ‘a permanent fixture of the repressive tactics’ of the Belarusian authorities138 in violation of Article 9 of the ICCPR, ratified by Belarus in 1973.139 Arrests and prosecution have particularly affected people exercising their fundamental rights in connection with the 2020 presidential election, the broader political situation in Belarus, and the war in Ukraine.140 In February 2023, the Government of Belarus withdrew from the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR.141
- 128
HRW, “I Swear to Fulfill the Duties of Defense Lawyer Honestly and Faithfully.” Politically Motivated Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers in Belarus, 27 May 2024, url; UN Human Rights Council, Report of Human Rights in Belarus, 22 April 2025, url, paras. 3-4
- 129
UN Human Rights Council, Report of Human Rights in Belarus, 22 April 2025, url, para. 3
- 130
AI, Belarus 2024, 28 April 2025, url
- 131
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Group of Independent Experts on the Situation of Human Rights in Belarus, 7 February 2025, url, para. 59; Human rights situation in Belarus. January 2026, 4 February 2026, url
- 132
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Belarus, 14 November 2025, url; AI, Belarus: No end in sight for the human rights crisis, 25 January 2026, url; HRW, Belarus – Events of 2025, 4 February 2026, url
- 133
Viasna, Human rights situation in Belarus. February 2026, 3 March 2026, url
- 134
UN Human Rights Council, Situation of human rights in Belarus, Report of the Group of Independent Experts on the Situation of Human Rights in Belarus, 6 February 2026, url, para. 16
- 135
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Group of Independent Experts on the Situation of Human Rights in Belarus, 7 February 2025, url, para. 30
- 136
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Group of Independent Experts on the Situation of Human Rights in Belarus, 7 February 2025, url, para. 32
- 137
Viasna Human Rights Center, Online interview with EUAA, 12 March 2026
- 138
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Group of Independent Experts on the Situation of Human Rights in Belarus, 7 February 2025, url, para. 32
- 139
UN Human Rights Council, Situation of human rights in Belarus, Report of the Group of Independent Experts on the Situation of Human Rights in Belarus, 6 February 2026, url, para. 17
- 140
UN Human Rights Council, Situation of human rights in Belarus, Report of the Group of Independent Experts on the Situation of Human Rights in Belarus, 6 February 2026, url, paras. 16, 18
- 141
UN Treaty Collection, Chapter IV, Human Rights, n.d., url