Belarus convicts at least 419 people for supporting Ukraine during Russia’s full-scale war

Criminal cases have been brought against at least 419 people in Belarus in connection with the war in Ukraine.

Source: Belarusian human rights centre Viasna, as reported by European Pravda

Details: According to Viasna, at least 419 people, including 73 women, have been convicted for supporting Ukraine since February 2022. Of these, 142 are currently in detention. The centre noted that the actual number of criminal cases could be significantly higher.

Of those convicted, 222 were sentenced for "facilitating extremist activities", including for sharing photographs and videos showing the movements of Russian military equipment.

Another 44 people were convicted of "treason" in connection with their support for Ukraine during the war. A further 17 foreign nationals were convicted of "espionage" in Belarus.

Another 29 people were convicted of "terrorism" in cases involving acts of sabotage, including on railways and at a military airfield, while 45 were convicted for donating to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The largest number of convictions, Viasna noted, are linked to the so-called Hajun case – a wave of arrests connected with the activities of the independent monitoring project Belaruski Hajun, which tracked the movements of Russian and Belarusian troops.

At the time, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned a new wave of repression by the Lukashenko regime in connection with the so-called Hajun case.

Background: On 16 September, US Special Envoy for Belarus John Coale announced during a visit to Minsk the release of 25 Belarusian political prisoners.

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