OREANDA-NEWS. In March, at least 105 people were convicted in Belarus on politically motivated criminal cases. This is reported by the Belarusian human rights center «Viasna» on Thursday, April 1, with reference to it's own calculations. Three more sentences were not handed down due to the absence of the accused at their announcement, they were put on the wanted list. Meanwhile, about half of those convicted — 53 people-were imprisoned for a total of 176 years and 7 months, with the longest sentence being 10 years (Alexander Trotsky), «Viasna» points out.

Among those convicted were 16 women who received sentences ranging from fines to three years in prison, and two minors, each of whom was sentenced to three years in prison, human rights activists further report. According to their data, the largest part of the sentences handed down in March fell on Minsk (33). In the Brest region, 24 people were convicted on politically motivated cases, in the Minsk and Grodno regions — 13 people each, in the Gomel region — 11 people, in the Vitebsk region — 7 people, in the Mogilev region — 4 people.

Among the politically motivated ones, human rights defenders refer, in particular, to the articles of the Criminal Code of Belarus on «active participation in group actions that grossly violate public order» (the largest proportion of those convicted), on «violence or the threat of violence against an employee of the internal affairs bodies», as well as on «mass riots».

Mass protests, that began after the presidential election held on August 9, 2020 and the CEC declared Alexander Lukashenko the winner, are still raging in Belarus. Speeches of citizens who are convinced of the falsification of the voting results are suppressed by riot police and special forces. The security forces repeatedly showed unprecedented brutality when dispersing the demonstrators.