Belarusian authorities detain 52 people in largest raid this year

Belarusian authorities have conducted their largest single raid of the year, detaining over 50 employees of a prominent architectural firm in what human rights activists describe as a troubling escalation of President Alexander Lukashenko’s ongoing repression campaign.

Security forces searched the Minsk offices of ZROBIM Architects on Thursday, taking 52 people into custody on suspicion of disloyalty, including company founder Andrei Makouski, according to the Viasna human rights center. Prior to his detention, Makouski had shared on social media that authorities demanded the private firm hire a full-time “ideologist” to monitor staff activities.

“The situation in Belarus is deteriorating, and we see that even suspicions of disloyalty are enough to trigger the largest single roundup of creative people this year,” said Pavel Sapelka, a lawyer with Viasna. He highlighted a concerning new tactic by authorities: “First arresting people, hacking their phones and computers, and only then bringing charges.”

The Belarusian government has increasingly weaponized “extremism” designations to criminalize dissent, with penalties of up to 10 years for associating with groups or individuals labeled as extremist. Sapelka noted that authorities recently designated 22 online chat groups used by prisoners’ relatives as extremist, a move he called “a blow to solidarity within the country” that could expose thousands of families to prosecution.

Belarus has faced international isolation since Lukashenko’s disputed 2020 election victory sparked the largest demonstrations in the country’s post-Soviet history. The ensuing crackdown saw more than 65,000 people arrested, with thousands beaten and hundreds of independent media outlets and civil society organizations shut down. According to Viasna’s records, 913 political prisoners remain behind bars.

Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for over three decades, won a seventh term last year in an election widely condemned by opposition figures as fraudulent. His regime has faced multiple rounds of Western sanctions, both for human rights abuses and for allowing Russian forces to use Belarusian territory during Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In recent months, Belarus has made apparent overtures to the West, particularly following Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Lukashenko has ordered the release of several high-profile detainees, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and prominent opposition figures Siarhei Tsikhanouski, Viktar Babaryka, and Maria Kolesnikova.

Just last month, Lukashenko ordered the release of 250 political prisoners as part of a deal with Washington that resulted in the lifting of some U.S. sanctions. The United States responded by easing restrictions on the Belarusian potash fertilizer industry and the national airline Belavia.

Despite these prisoner releases, human rights advocates warn that systematic repression continues. Viasna reports that authorities have begun revoking passports of released political prisoners who travel abroad, including Bialiatski himself, who left Belarus after spending five years in prison.

“This is yet another form of transnational repression aimed at complicating the lives of deported political prisoners outside the country,” Bialiatski told the Associated Press. “The authorities continue their repression and are trying to ritually sever our ties with Belarus.”

The mass detention at ZROBIM Architects signals that despite diplomatic gestures toward the West, the Belarusian government remains committed to suppressing any perceived opposition within its borders, extending its control into private businesses and maintaining pressure on those who have already served prison sentences for political activities.