Repression against independent unions in Belarus must stop, 20 April 2022

...The latest blatant attack on the independent union movement in Belarus occurred on 19 April:

The offices of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) and its affiliated unions, including two IndustriALL affiliates - Free Metal Workers’ Union (SPM) and Belarusian Radio and Electronic Industry Workers' Union (REP) - were searched. Union leaders’ and activists’ homes were also searched, and digital devices and union paperwork was seized. Union leaders and activists were detained, including Alexander Yaroshuk, Sergey Antusevich, Irina Bud-Gusaim, Nikolay Sharakh, Gennady Fedynich, Yana Malash, Vitaly Chichmarev, Vadim Payvin, Mikhail Gromov, Aleksander Bukhvostov, Igor Komlik, Vasiliy Bersenev, and Dmitry Borodko...

Unions in Belarus have been under attack since August 2020, with searches of union offices and homes of union leaders and activists, administrative penalties, detentions and imprisonments of those who fight for workers’ rights. Recently, there has been an increase in interrogations of union activists, the illegal installation of video and listening devices in union offices, and pressure placed on union members to resign from their union has become widespread...