Ales Bialiatski: 12 Thousand People Detained During Protests in Belarus

This has never happened in the country's history.

It's been the second months since mass protests, strikes and detention of the participants have been ongoing in Belarus after the presidential elections. Human rights activists report thousands of detainees and hundreds of beaten people.

The head of the HRC Viasna Ales Bialiatski told Current Time about repressions in the country and the work of human rights defenders in these conditions.

- When a lot of information about detainees appears, you drown in this yards of figures. You are the person who monitors this information. I wonder whether the number of people behind bars now is as great as it used to be right after the presidential election.

- Several hundred people are under administrative arrest. This figure is constantly changing, as people are sentenced to different terms - 5, 8, 15 days. Several hundred people are now in Minsk, as well as in other cities of Belarus because there is such strong pressure on local activists, those people who participated in the rallies, who were identified from photos and convicted during the last week.

A large number of people were released with protocols; several hundred people are still subject to trial. Therefore, both the detention centre in Minsk and the Zhodzina prison, where detainees under administrative charges are held, are quite crowded. However, given the fact that another mass action is about to start in Minsk, and the police, special forces, and internal troops have moved up again, there will probably be some arrests again. I think that these places will be crowded again. But if there are a lack of places, then, again, some people may be released with the protocols. So far we have such a mixed policy.

In general, the number of people who have been subject to administrative arrests or just arrests is enormous. Belarus has never experienced it before. Before Election Day, about 1700 people were subject to detentions. After August 9 - there were already 12 thousand people under arrest. It's colossal figures. However, people do not give up; they continue to resist. So, this figure is not final.

- Is it anything common for Belarus, or is it not typical for the country?

- It is an incredible scale. Usually, even during the presidential years, in 2006 or 2010, we had up to 3 thousand people who were subjected to repressions. But now it is clear that the figures are completely different. The most unpleasant and dangerous thing is that these are criminal cases. Now about 300 people are in detention centres or under travel restrictions, which means that people are subject to politically-motivated criminal persecution.

Last week, unfortunately, our colleague from Viasna HRC, Marya Rabkova, was also arrested; and she is accused of financing the riots. This is complete nonsense. She coordinates the volunteer service of Viasna, which monitored the situation during the rallies, helped people in prison. The service handed over parcels, collected information about the detainees. This is 100% human rights work, but these repressions have already affected human rights defenders.

- Are these isolated criminal cases, or are these Russia-like cases with one large-scale case and dozens of defendants in custody?

- There will be different types of cases. But it is already clear that there are hundreds of separate cases. By the way, one such criminal case started last week in Maladzechna; two people are being tried there. They are accused of resistance to riot police when riot policemen pulled out a pistol, a real combat one. This case was known in June, during the election campaign. Now it's time for the trial. One of these two defendants was taken into custody during the trial, while the other is still at large. The trial is underway. But dozens of such trials await us in the coming months unless the authorities change their attitude towards the rallies and their participants.

- How does the Human Rights Center work in general? It is a round-the-clock job, isn't it?

- We work in these difficult conditions. On Thursday we were granted the Eagle Award of Yan Karsky. He is a very famous person who brought information about the Holocaust during the war to England, USA. He was in a concentration camp. He submitted all the information to the West. He founded this award. His chapter has decided to support Viasna and all activists who now resist this terrible semi-fascist regime, which is now waging in Belarus.