Protests have swept Belarus since a contested presidential election on August 9. In the initial police crackdown, nearly 7,000 people were arrested. Those thrown behind bars weren’t all hardened activists or even participants in the rallies — the authorities swept up journalists, foreigners, and even random passersby. Many of these people are still missing in the bureaucratic mayhem that’s followed. Officials have not disclosed many detainees’ whereabouts to family members, human rights groups, and individuals’ own lawyers. Prisoners lucky enough to have been released talk of brutal conditions: overcrowded cells, inadequate food, and torture. Meduza special correspondent Kristina Safonova spoke to some of these people to find out more about the conditions in Belarusian jails.
Meduza: Torture in Belarusian jails now threatens to end the Lukashenko regime
People detained during recent rallies of opposition supporters, who accuse strongman Alexander Lukashenko of falsifying the polls in the presidential election, show their traces of beatings as they leave the Okrestina prison early morning in Minsk on August 14, 2020.
