Labor Movement case sent to court

August 29, BPN. The Office of the Homiel Region Prosecutor has referred to the Homiel Regional Court the criminal case against 10 activists of Rabočy Ruch (Labor Movement), which in 2020-21 included former and active employees of industrial enterprises, the Prosecutor General’s Office reports.

The accused are: Siarhiej Šelest, Uładzimir Žuraŭka, Andrej Pahieryła, Hanna Abłab, Alaksandr Hašnikaŭ, Siarhiej Dziuba, Ihar Minc, Valancin Cieranievič, Siarhiej Šamiećka and Alaksandr Kapšul.

All of them are charged with treason, creating an extremist formation or participating in it. Šelest, Žuraŭka and Pahieryła are also charged with defamation. Kapšul is accused of illegal handling of firearms.

All of them except Šamiećka were recognized as political prisoners by the human rights community.

The authorities declared Rabočy Ruch an extremist formation.

The Committee for the State Security (KGB) said that “in addition to committing crimes of an extremist nature, members of this formation carried out illegal activities to collect and then transfer to a foreign the state, a foreign organization and their representatives, including the United States’ and Lithuania’s special services, of restricted official information regarding Belarus’ business entities.”

It claimed that “the transmitted information directly related to methods taken to circumvent restrictive measures (sanctions) and ways to counter these methods.”

In addition, “individual members of the extremist formation planned to block production activities of Grodno Azot and BMZ-UKH BMK in order to disrupt these companies’ work and damage or destroy their property.”