Over 900 protesters detained in Belarus in Feb - rights activists

MINSK. March 3 (Interfax) - The Belarusian authorities detained more than 900 people for participating in protests and for public displays of unregistered symbols in February, while the number of political prisoners reached 1,068, according to Thursday's report of the Viasna human rights center, which is unregistered in Belarus.

"The number of political prisoners has grown by 46 and reached 1,068 as of the end of February. It continues growing steadily," the report compiled by Viasna said.

"Participants in peaceful protests, including anti-war ones, continue to be detained. Arbitrary detentions of citizens for using white-red-white symbols and for distributing information continued. Some people were detained in private houses and private areas. At least 952 people were detained in February," it said.

As many as 135 people were penalized with administrative arrests, it said.

The report by Viasna contains the figures released earlier by First Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Supreme Court Valery Kalinkovich suggesting that 1,832 people were convicted in cases opened against Belarusian protesters from August 2020 to February 2022.

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