According to numerous publications citing witnesses and victims of the suppression of the 2020 Belarusian protests, the events were accompanied by extreme police violence and systematic violations of human rights on all stages of a detention process, including the widespread employment of excessive force and torture, medical assistance denial and rape. Further reports of the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) raised the question of classification of these events as crimes against humanity. On 1 September 2020, in a statement by the United Nations Human Rights Office, more than 450 documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of detainees were mentioned, including sexual abuse and rape. Background On 9 August 2020, in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 Belarusian presidential elections, which were considered by the Belarusian opposition to be falsified, massive gatherings of protesters started to be forming in Minsk and other major cities of Belarus. In the following night, the initially peaceful protests turned into a full-scale confrontation between the protesters and the Belarusian security forces, during which more than 3,000 protestors were arrested. The open confrontation continued through the next two days, which led to a total of around 7,000 arrested protestors. On 12 August 2020, the open confrontation stopped, and peaceful protests resumed. Accounts of victims and witnesses According to the OHCHR, both male and female detainees were subjected to rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence. Medical records reviewed by OHCHR indicate lesions and other injuries to the male genitalia associated with forcible twisting and rape. Psychological violence, including threats of rape, was also used against detainees. According to Maxim Solopov, special correspondent of Meduza, who was detained during the 10 August protest and spent two days at the Okrestina Detention Centre, the detainees were ordered to kneel with their hands behind their heads and put their heads on the ground; then, they were continuously beaten by the staff for hours before being put into the cells. The male detainees were ordered to completely undress while lying on the ground, and, on several occasions, loud explosions were heard by Solopov; he believed these could have been detonations of flash-bang grenades. According to Solopov, the tile floor in the detention centre was completely covered with blood, and screams of the beaten detainees could be heard during all his stay there. Solopov also reported that the cell where he and other