The number of political prisoners in Belarus is growing almost exponentially. Unfortunately, human rights organizations do not always have time to process the information received, compile cases of convicts, letters and appeals that contribute to the recognition of politically active citizens as political prisoners.

ICСI “Our House” compiled a table of articles of the Criminal Code, according to which the currently recognized political prisoners were convicted. Some of the chapters have become a favourite tool of repression, and others were occasional. But the processed data is necessary for identifying prisoners who should be recognized as political. Also, it demonstrates the picture of persecution and repression in Belarus.

The table shows statistics on already convicted people who have already received sentences and are serving their sentences. A lot of active citizens are behind bars awaiting trials and sentencing. In our opinion, such people should also have the right to be recognized as political prisoners. Many of them have been arrested since the beginning of the 2020 presidential campaign and after August 2020. The attitude of the “law enforcement” agencies towards them is the same as towards recognized political prisoners – they are subjected to torture, violence and bullying.

According to the latest data, men and women who are convicted under the articles listed in the table must serve a total of 1,758 years. It is 65 terms of 27 years of the usurper. We are confident that the authorities involved in repressions against people will be justified following the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. But they will be judged by honest judges.

Article number	Title of the article	Number of convicts
130	Incitement of racial, national, religious or other social enmity or discord	16
147	Intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm	1
178	Disclosure of medical secrets	2
179	Illegal collection or dissemination of information about private life	2
188	Slander	20
191	Obstruction of the exercise of electoral rights, the right to participate in a referendum, or the implementation of the legal initiative of citizens, or the work of the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus on Elections and holding republican referendums, election commissions, referendum commissions, recall voting commissions	2
209	Fraud	2
218	Intentional destruction or damage to property committed in a generally dangerous manner or causing major damage	25
235	Legalization (“laundering”) of funds obtained by criminal means	5
243	Evasion of payment of taxes and fees	1
289	An act of terrorism	2
293	Mass riots	230
295	Illegal actions concerning firearms, ammunition and explosives	20
295-3	Illegal actions concerning objects whose damaging effect is based on the use of combustible substances	5
309	Intentional disrepair of a vehicle or means of communication	10
339	Hooliganism	230
341	Desecration of buildings and damage to property	28
342	Organizing or actively participating in group activities that grossly violate public order	272
346	Abuse of historical and cultural values	1
356	Treason to the state	1
357	Conspiracy or other actions aimed at seizing power unconstitutionally	2
361	Calls for actions aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus	3
361-1	Creation of an extremist formation	3
362	Murder of an internal affairs officer	2
363	Resistance to an employee of the internal affairs bodies or another person guarding public order	32
364	Violence or the threat of violence concerning an employee of the internal affairs bodies	138
366	Violence or threat against an official performing official duties or another person performing a public duty	10
367	Slander against the President of the Republic of Belarus	6
368	Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus	71
369	Insulting a representative of the authorities	186
370	Abuse of State symbols	35
371	Illegal crossing of the State border of the Republic of Belarus	1
377	Theft, destruction, damage or concealment of documents, stamps, seals, theft of forms	2
391	Insulting a judge or a people’s assessor	16
400	Deliberately false denunciation	1
409	Illegal actions concerning property subject to inventory or arrest	1
430	Receiving a bribe	5

*statistical information has been processed according to the data for the evening of September 24, 2021. Due to the constant increase in the number of political prisoners, the table will be updated.