Between October 2024 and March 2025, human rights violations in Belarus persisted at an alarming level, with systematic repression targeting individuals for their real or perceived political dissent. The International Accountability Platform for Belarus (IAPB) and numerous human rights organisations have documented actions that may amount to crimes against humanity, according to the latest Progress Report by the IAPB.

The presidential elections on 26 January 2025, resulting in Aleksandr Lukashenko’s seventh term amid widespread allegations of electoral fraud, further entrenched authoritarian control and heightened political repression.

“Despite significant political obstacles, the IAPB remains firmly committed to supporting justice for victims and ensuring accountability for human rights violations and international crimes in Belarus”, said Andrea Huber, the IAPB’s Head. “But justice in Belarus won’t prevail without continued international pressure and attention.”

The reporting period saw intensified repression by Belarusian authorities:

• 2,958 politically motivated arrests and trials were documented by the Human Rights Centre Viasna.
• 1,205 political prisoners remained in custody, including prominent human rights defenders.
• Security forces targeted past protesters to instil fear ahead of the elections.
• 511 people were added to the ‘extremist’ list, and 19 organisations were labelled ‘extremist’.
• Two deaths in custody and inhumane detention conditions were reported.
• Detainees, including women, faced threats of sexual violence, and separation from their children.
• Press freedom and legal representation were severely curtailed, with 41 journalists imprisoned and at least five lawyers disbarred.

The regime’s crackdown extended beyond Belarus’s borders. 24 trials in absentia were recorded, and a February 2025 amendment to the Criminal Code broadened their scope, raising serious human rights concerns. Surveillance of expatriates involved in opposition activities also increased.

“In response, the IAPB continued its vital evidence-gathering and accountability work”, noted Pavel Sapelko, representative from Viasna, IAPB’s co-lead organisation. “Seventy-six new testimonies were collected in the last six months, adding to the 2,775 in its closed-source database.”

Over 30,000 witness-related documents and 1.5 million open-source records have been collected by the IAPB so far, ready to support judicial investigations. Linkage evidence analysis continues to trace chains of command linking high-ranking officials to crimes committed by subordinates.

The violations documented include physical and psychological ill-treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, potentially unlawful killings, inhumane detention conditions, and violations of due process rights and other fundamental rights.

“The IAPB also remains dedicated to support survivors”, said Viktoria Fedorova, representative of the International Committee for the Investigation of Torture in Belarus, IAPB’s co-lead. “Mental health and psychosocial support were extended to 88 more survivors during the reporting period, reinforcing our commitment to a survivor-centred approach.”

As part of its work to support national and international accountability efforts, the IAPB filed a submission in January 2025, following Lithuania’s referral of the situation in Belarus to the International Criminal Court, addressing potential crimes against humanity in Belarus. It also assisted prosecutors in two jurisdictions, bringing its total submissions to nine across five countries, and deepen its cooperation with the UN Group of Independent Experts on Human Rights in Belarus (GIEB), with over 1,500 files shared.

About the IAPB:

The International Accountability Platform for Belarus (IAPB), created in March 2021, is a consortium of Belarusian and international NGOs that collects, consolidates, verifies, and preserves evidence of gross human rights violations allegedly committed by Belarusian authorities and others in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath.

For more information, please contact: Andrea Huber, IAPB’s Head, on anhu@dignity.dk.

The International Accountability Platform for Belarus (IAPB) has submitted evidence and legal analyses to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to inform its preliminary examination into whether it has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute alleged crimes against humanity, including deportation, persecution, and other inhumane acts, committed by Belarusian senior officials since 1 May 2020.

The IAPB Communication, submitted on 31 January 2025, presents factual and legal analyses of evidence gathered by the IAPB through interviews with witnesses and victims as well as open-source materials available in the IAPB’s collection. It follows Lithuania’s referral of the situation in Belarus to the ICC Prosecutor on 30 September 2024, which 13 human rights organisations, including the IAPB, called on other ICC State Parties to join.

“The referral by Lithuania to the ICC marks an important milestone in the path to justice for victims of crimes against humanity in Belarus,” said Andrea Huber, Head of the IAPB. “Thanks to the resilience and courage of Belarusian victims and human rights defenders, and an IAPB team determined to make a difference we were able to provide substantive information and evidence to inform the examination of the ICC Prosecutor.”

The IAPB’s Communication based on Article 15(2) of the Rome Statute comprises factual findings, including on civilian protests and state response, ill-treatment during protests, arrests, house searches and in detention, other fundamental rights violations, forced civilian departures from Belarus, and human rights violations after departure from Belarus. Legal analysis on jurisdictional issues, the underlying acts of alleged crimes against humanity and the admissibility of the case were also submitted alongside relevant annexes on detention facilities and state structures in Belarus.

The IAPB, a consortium of Belarusian and international NGOs created in 2021, has been collecting, consolidating, verifying and preserving evidence of gross violations of human rights constituting crimes under international law allegedly committed by Belarusian authorities in the run-up of the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath. The IAPB’s database contains over 29,000 documents related to 2,600 Interviewees and over one million of archived open-source records.

In addition to this Communication to the ICC, the IAPB has provided evidence, information and analytical products to five States, UN accountability mechanisms and the OSCE Moscow Mechanism, and has collaborated with lawyers and civil society organisations with the aim of holding perpetrators of international crimes accountable and securing justice and redress for Belarusian survivors.

“In addition to a possible investigation by the International Criminal Court, there remains a pressing need to combat impunity also through national investigations and prosecutions under the principle of universal jurisdiction to ensure that justice is served,” said Huber.  “The Accountability Platform stands ready to provide evidence and analysis to national prosecutors who investigate international criminal law violations in Belarus.”

For more information, please contact: Andrea Huber, IAPB’s Head, on iapb@dignity.dk.