Whereas the Republic of Belarus held a presidential election on August 9, 2020, that was widely considered to be neither free nor fair; Whereas official election results released by Belarusian government officials and the unofficial exit polls conducted by domestic observers and members of civil society presented substantially divergent data; Whereas in the months leading up to the election, Belarusian authorities had arbitrarily detained over 1,300 people, including activists and journalists participating in peaceful protests; Whereas within the first 5 days of the protests following the August 9th election, nearly 7,000 peaceful protestors and journalists had been detained in Belarus; Whereas, as of September 1, 2020, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had received 450 documented cases of torture and ill-treatment by detainees; Whereas these peaceful demonstrations were met with violence from security services that employed barricades, stun grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets, and, at times, live ammunition; Whereas Amnesty International and local human rights groups said they have collected horrifying testimonies from protesters in Belarus who describe being tortured or subjected to other ill-treatment in detention centers, including being stripped naked, beaten, and threatened with rape ; Whereas, as of August 25, 2020, dozens of protestors remained missing and at least 4 Belarusians had been killed in violence related to the demonstrations; Whereas Belarusians continue to share real-time videos and other content documenting the brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrations through social media; Whereas, on August 30, 2020, the Government of Belarus revoked the accreditation of 19 international journalists and deported 2 others; Whereas in the days and weeks that followed, a grassroots movement of Belarusians has demonstrated against the official electoral results and demanded new elections