10/27/20
The UN human rights investigator for Belarus has demanded that the government "stop repressing its own people," referring to thousands detained during protests against Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The demand made by Anais Marin, UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus, came after the start of a nationwide strike called by the opposition during which hundreds more were detained. Marin told the Human Rights Committee that at least 20,000 people were detained in August and September and hundreds reported being beaten, intimidated, tortured, or ill-treated while in custody. Marin quoted sources in the Interior Ministry and nongovernmental groups who said most detainees have faced administrative or criminal charges, citing more than 400 criminal cases against protesters since disputed elections on August 9. Marin’s appeal was echoed in a statement to the committee later from 52 mainly European countries and the European Union. They also called for an end to violence against peaceful demonstrators and intimidation of opposition leaders, journalists, human rights defenders, and protesters to end along with abuses against people in the pro-democracy movement.
Tsikhanouskaya said the strike, called to ratchet up pressure on Lukashenka to resign, "has only just begun and will continue to strengthen." She spoke in an interview with RFE/RL in the evening of October 26 after thousands of workers, students, and pensioners took to the streets across Belarus. "I am proud of every Belarusian who found strength and courage and went on strike today," Tsikhanouskaya said, urging all her countrymen to join the protest. Tsikhanouskaya spoke from Lithuania, where she has been living since shortly after the presidential election amid threats to her and her family. "The strike did not fail, no matter what the supporters of the regime -- whom there are fewer and fewer -- say about it," the opposition leader also said. Instead of accepting the opposition’s call to leave by midnight on October 25, Lukashenka responded with another show of power, setting security forces upon the protesters on October 26.