TALLINN, Estonia (AP) 鈥� Belarusian authorities detained more than 50 employees of an architectural firm in the country鈥檚 largest single raid this year, human rights activists said Friday, as part of what they described as a new escalation of repression under President Alexander .
Security forces searched the Minsk offices of ZROBIM Architects on Thursday and detained 52 people on suspicion of disloyalty, including the firm鈥檚 founder, Andrei Makouski, according to the Viasna human rights center.
Authorities had demanded the private firm hire a full-time 鈥渋deologist鈥� to monitor its staff, the group said. On the eve of his detention, Makouski posted on social media that the studio had received a letter from authorities making the demand.
鈥淭he situation in is deteriorating, and we see that even suspicions of disloyalty are enough to trigger the largest single roundup of creative people this year,鈥� Pavel Sapelka, a lawyer with Viasna, told The Associated Press. 鈥淭his is a new practice for the authorities: first arresting people, hacking their phones and computers, and only then bringing charges.鈥�
Authorities have increasingly used 鈥渆xtremism鈥� designations to criminalize dissent, with penalties of up to 10 years for associating with groups or individuals labeled extremist. Sapelka said authorities recently designated 22 online chat groups used by prisoners鈥� relatives as extremist, a move he called 鈥渁 blow to solidarity within the country鈥� that could expose thousands of families to prosecution.
A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced isolation for years. Lukashenko of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been sanctioned 鈥� both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the
Lukashenko鈥檚 rule was challenged after a 2020 presidential election, when tens of thousands to protest a vote they viewed as rigged. They were the largest demonstrations since Belarus became independent following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
In an ensuing crackdown, more than 65,000 people were arrested, thousands were beaten, and hundreds of independent media outlets and civil society organizations were shut down. Prominent opposition figures either fled the country or were imprisoned. Viasna says 913 political prisoners remain behind bars.
Five years after the mass demonstrations, last year in an election that the opposition called a farce.
Belarus has recently freed some political prisoners to try to win favor with the West. Since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, Lukashenko has released hundreds of prisoners, including and key dissident figures , .
Most recently, Lukashenko last month ordered the as part of a deal with Washington that lifted some U.S. sanctions, the largest one-time release of political prisoners in the country.
The United States has responded to the releases by lifting sanctions on the Belarusian potash fertilizer industry and the national airline Belavia.
But rights groups say the repression continues. Viasna reported that authorities have begun revoking passports of released political prisoners who have traveled abroad, including , who left Belarus after five years in prison and said his passport was revoked.
鈥淭his is yet another form of transnational repression aimed at complicating the lives of deported political prisoners outside the country,鈥� Bialiatski told the AP. 鈥淭he authorities continue their repression and are trying to ritually sever our ties with Belarus.鈥�
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