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Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko: protests brutally suppressed
Photo: Pavel Bednyakov / IMAGO / SNA
According to estimates by the civil rights organization Vyasna, there are more than 1,400 political prisoners in Belarus.
Authorities in the authoritarian ex-Soviet republic have now taken action against dozens of relatives of these prisoners.
The security forces searched their homes and arrested several people.
By Tuesday evening, the KGB secret service had visited at least 84 people, wrote the Belarusian internet portal Serkalo.
"Among those arrested is Marina Adamowitsch, the wife of the politician Nikolai Statkevich, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison," said ex-presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who lives in exile.
The world must react to these excesses, she demanded on the social network X.
Possible hunt for aid project
According to media reports, the raids were justified on suspicion of “forming and financing extremist organizations.”
Apparently the KGB is interested in the content of closed chats in which the relatives of political prisoners exchange information.
According to civil rights activists, the KGB told some of those arrested that the operation was related to the INeedHelpBY project.
This supports Belarusians affected by political repression with food.
The ruler in Belarus is Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994.
When he wanted to be re-elected as president for the sixth time in 2020, the opposition was convinced that challenger Tichanowskaja won.
Lukashenko was declared the winner despite the lack of international recognition.
He brutally suppressed the subsequent protests over weeks.
As a result, many opposition members fled into exile, and hundreds of others were locked up in prison.
mrc/dpa