Rights groups report 34 cases of persecution of LGBT people in Belarus

On 27 October, the human rights initiatives TG House and Prismatica reported an increase in the persecution of LGBT people in Belarus. TG House says it documented 34 cases from the start of 2026. In 16 of them, the people targeted were transgender or non-binary.

The statement describes actions attributed to the police and KGB, including detentions at workplaces and places of study, phone searches, meetings arranged through fake profiles on dating apps, and searches at the homes of relatives of people who had left the country. TG House separately reports six recruitment attempts. The organisation says security officers tried to persuade people to secretly pass on information about other LGBT people and their contacts.

The groups say administrative offence reports were drawn up in three cases under Article 19.16 of the Code of Administrative Offences. When the law was signed in April, the Belarusian president’s press office described the provision as part of measures to protect traditional values. On 1 November, Julia Mickiewicz, an equality adviser to Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, called the provision a tool of control and said the pressure also affects people who are not activists.

Uránia previously reported that Article 19.16 on so-called propaganda of same-sex relationships, gender transition, childlessness and paedophilia came into force on 19 June.