UN Report: lukashenko Continues to Persecute Those Who Helped Ukraine

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in belarus Nils Muižnieks, has presented a new report on the human rights situation in the country for the period from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026. The report’s conclusions leave no room for optimism: the regime has not only maintained its old practices of suppressing dissent but has also devised new ones.

Authorities of the rb continue to use anti-terrorism and anti-extremism legislation against opposition figures, human rights defenders, journalists, and representatives of the cultural and scientific communities. Official minsk denies any involvement in arbitrary detentions, but the persecution does not stop even after people are released from prison; they are added to lists of “extremists” or “terrorists”, which effectively prolongs their punishment in a new form. Those designated as “terrorists” face restrictions on obtaining SIM cards, opening bank accounts, and accessing basic financial transactions, as well as obstacles to finding employment and pursuing an education.

The report details cases of ill-treatment and arbitrary deprivation of liberty, in particular through repeated extensions of prison terms under Article 411 of the Criminal Code, which provides for punishment for “malicious disobedience” to the demands of prison administration. The Special Rapporteur received reports of inhumane conditions of detention and ill-treatment in prisons and penal colonies: arbitrary disciplinary measures, denial of adequate medical care, prolonged solitary confinement without contact with the outside world, restrictions on visits with family members and lawyers, unsanitary conditions, inadequate food, forced labor, and violence by other inmates, which prison staff either ignored or encouraged. Of grave concern is the deteriorating health of many prisoners, life-threatening conditions for vulnerable groups of prisoners, the lack of psychological support, and punishment for suicide attempts.

Those who support Ukraine are currently at the greatest risk. Since February 2022, belarusian authorities have handed down convictions to at least 403 people, and as of February 2026, more than 200 of them remain behind bars. Since the beginning of 2026, courts have handed down 155 convictions for “promoting extremism”, and all those convicted have been included on the official list of “extremists”.

For many political prisoners, release from detention has turned out to be a trap rather than a liberation. The Special Rapporteur points out persistent reports that those released are being forced to leave belarus under threat of new criminal prosecution, and this is precisely how the authorities got rid of most of the political prisoners released in 2025.There is no provision for rehabilitation or compensation for damages for those released. lukashenko, meanwhile, denies the existence of political prisoners and politically motivated trials in the country altogether, calling those released “traitors and spies” who were allegedly pardoned solely to avoid deaths in detention facilities and subsequent criticism from foreign states.

Pressure and persecution also extend to those who are formally free. Relatives of exiles and political prisoners, as well as their lawyers, continue to face systematic pressure. The authorities also conduct trials in absentia against activists in exile, accompanied by the public confiscation of their property and forced entry into their homes. Threats against relatives remain one of the main tools of intimidation, while the exiles themselves are denied even the ability to renew their passports while abroad.