Worker movement activist fined

June 18, BPN. Marharyta Zubarava, a former defendant in a case against Rabočy Ruch (Workers’ Movement) has been fined 960 rubles (over $370) for illegally producing and distributing media materials, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

In early June, Zubarava along with two other activists, Dźmitryj Jelisejeŭ and Sviatłana Zyl, were cleared of criminal charges of high treason and are now witnesses in a case involving more than dozen suspects.

The activists were apprehended in September 2021 in a wave of arrests that swept through the Hrodna Azot nitrogen fertilizer plant, Naftan oil refinery, Belarusian Steel Works, and Belarusian Railways. A total of 21 people were charged in the case against Rabočy Ruch.

Zyl and Jelisejeŭ were released on their own recognizance along with several other Hrodna Azot workers. In early June, Jelisejeŭ was summoned to the Investigative Committee where he agreed to pay a fine of 960 rubels. Investigators dropped the high treason charge.

Rabočy Ruch was established after the 2020 presidential election as an association of Belarusian workers to defend their civil and labor rights and freedoms. Its members demanded an end to police brutality, the release of all political prisoners, and the resignation of Alaksandr Łukašenka.

The State Security Committee (KGB) declared Rabočy Ruch an extremist group on September 21, 2021. It was the first association to receive such status.