US EditionBelarus Detains More than 50 at Architectural Firm in Escalating Crackdown
Human rights activists said the raid marked the year’s largest single roundup of creative workers and followed a demand to hire a full-time ideologist.
- On Thursday, Belarusian security forces raided the Minsk offices of ZROBIM Architects, detaining 52 employees including founder Andrei Makouski on suspicion of disloyalty. Rights activists called it the country's largest single roundup of creative professionals this year.
- The raid followed a demand from authorities that the private firm hire a full-time "ideologist" to monitor staff, a requirement Makouski disclosed on social media the eve before his detention.
- Pavel Sapelka, a lawyer with Viasna, told The Associated Press that authorities now arrest people, hack their phones and computers, and only then bring charges—a tactic reflecting broader repression involving more than 65,000 arrests since 2020.
- Despite Lukashenko ordering the release of 250 political prisoners last month, Viasna reports 913 political prisoners remain behind bars, signaling the government continues targeting perceived dissenters despite recent de-escalation gestures.
- The detention of ZROBIM staff suggests the creative sector faces intensified self-censorship and departures, reinforcing that state repression remains Belarus's primary tool for suppressing civil society and independent voices.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Human rights activists said on Friday that Belarusian officials had detained more than 50 employees of an architecture firm in the country in the biggest raid this year.
Associated Press News
Belarus detains more than 50 at architectural firm in escalating crackdown
Belarusian authorities detained 52 employees of the architectural firm ZROBIM Architects in Minsk on Thursday, including its founder, in the country’s largest single raid this year, the Viasna human rights center said.
ZROBIM architects in Minsk on 9 April have been searched by Silovikis, reporting to the Mirror.
Some 50 employees, including the founder of the company, have been detained.
Aftenposten
Nettavisen52 ansatte i et arkitektkontor i Belarus ble pågrepet torsdag etter at myndighetene krevde at selskapet ansatte and «ideolog».
All employees who were on site were detained.
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