Belarus - October 2022
New decree gives KGB authority to monitor all online activity
A new presidential decree, which operationalizes a law passed in 2021, gives the Belarusian security and information services the authority to request any user data or metadata from Internet resources and service providers. Legal experts say that the decree gives state security agencies unlimited control over the Belarusian Internet.
Sources: Netobservatory.by
New severe sentence handed down to political opposition
A court in Hrodna sentenced political dissident Mikalay Autukhovich to 25 years in prison, and 11 others to a combined 169.6 years, on fabricated charges of high treason. The sentences are the most extreme handed out as part of the government’s ongoing society-wide repression of all opposition and non-state political activity as a response to the 2020 election and mass protests. The convicted are some of Belarus’ 1337 political prisoners, one of whom is the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski.
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