Belarusian workers are tested on polygraph in large numbers. Some are subject to short-time detention for several days.
Human rights defenders of the «Viasna» Center report “massive persecution” of workers in the “BelOMO” and “Peleng” companies. The workers are tested on polygraphs, their phones are inspected, and they are summoned for “talks”. Some of them are detained for several days and then dismissed, following those inspections.
“Belarusian Optomechanical Company” (“BelOMO”) and “Peleng” produce optomechanical instruments, including those for small arms and armored vehicle guns. Both companies are on the Western and Ukrainian sanctions lists. There are records of attempted evasions of those sanctions.
It should be noted that during the 2020 protests a considerable part of the “Peleng” employees harboured protest sentiments. Some of the workers tried to establish a workplace union organization of the Belarusian Independent Union which the authorities refused to register. Later, Andrei Dechko, the union leader and a leading software engineer of the company, was arrested by the KGB officers. He was released after spending 10 days in a KGB pre-trial detention facility. In April 2023, Andrei died at the age of 46. He had remained a suspect in a criminal case until his death.
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