Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution

November 2, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on November 1.

Arrests

Police arrested Volha Brycikava, the head of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union’s grassroots organization at the Naftan enterprise (Navapołack, Homiel region), under the Administrative Offences Code. They took her to Navapołack’s internal affairs department, unionists said. The activist had already spent 75 days behind bars this year.

Law enforcers arrested a brother of Belarusian volunteer fighter Vasil Parfiankoŭ, who served in the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment and died in the summer in Ukraine, for subscribing to undesirable Telegram channels, pro-government sources wrote. Previously, Parfiankoŭ’s cousin, sister and mother were all detained.

Police arrested Lithuanian national Alena Cymbalist, 58, a teacher at Minsk’s School No 173, for participating in the 2020 protests and subscribing to “destructive” Telegram channels, pro-government sources wrote.

Law enforcers arrested Grodno Azot’s former employee Andrej Čaromucha, who now works as a taxi driver. The man is charged with participating in “unauthorized mass events” in 2020, as well as with insulting police officers, pro-government sources wrote.

Pro-government Telegram channels detailed some of the arrests made one day earlier in open-type correctional facilities and documented by human rights activists. Security forces carried out “filtering of a specific contingent” in Mazyr and Homiel as part of “extensive preventive work,” they wrote. Some convicts were arrested under the Administrative Offences Code.

In the last days of October, law enforcers arrested Źmicier Kaciankoŭ, Alaksandr Kulinič, Vadzim Jacyna, Siarhiej Rabaŭ, Danił Markaŭ, Hanna Muzyka, Alena Chudyš, Alaksiej Savaściuk and Mikałaj Reščykaŭ, Spiski Zaderzhannykh reported. The specific grounds for the arrests, made across Belarus, remain unclear.

Police in Minsk arrested Uładzimir Kanaplicki, 34, on arrival by bus from Warsaw. He is reportedly awaiting trial under the Administrative Offences Code, Viasna said.

Trials

A district court in Minsk has begun hearing a criminal case against United Civil Party leaders Mikałaj Kazłoŭ, Aksana Alaksiejeva and Antanina Kavalova, widely regarded as political prisoners. They are charged with participating in a 2020 protest, Viasna reported.

A court in Połack, Viciebsk region, sentenced businesswoman Taćciana Šostak to 30 days in jail for a profile pic with a white-red-white flag on social media, equating it with an unauthorized picket. The woman was going to file with local authorities a letter with entrepreneurs’ questions regarding the new pricing requirements. Police detained her on her way to the city’s executive committee, Viasna reported.

A district court in Minsk sentenced Ina Panova, 37, a mother of four, to 18 months in prison for protests, Viasna reported.

At a closed-door session, the Homiel Regional Court sentenced businessman Siarhiej Zacharanka to four-and-a-half years in prison, Viasna reported. He faced seven charges.

The Minsk City Court sentenced Alaksandr Zijazetdzinaŭ, 35, to three years in prison, Viasna reported. The state charged him with financing an extremist group, as he transferred $800 worth of cryptocurrency to the ByPol initiative of former security officers. He did this before Belarus even declared ByPol extremist, Viasna noted.

A district court in Homiel sentenced local resident Źmicier Małašanka to two years in prison for online remarks about the controversial Zielcer case. He was charged with discrediting the Republic of Belarus, Viasna wrote. Małašanka told the court that he had participated in a bike ride in support of Alaksandr Łukašenka in 2020 and, as a vigilante, kept order during the presidential elections.

Prosecutors referred the criminal case of rail partisan Vital Melnik, 40, to court. The state accused him of an arson attack on the railway’s relay cabinet in March 2022. He faces four criminal charges. Melnik moves on crutches after law enforcers used firearms during the arrest, Viasna reported.

Other forms of pressure

Viasna reported that law enforcers transferred journalist Juryj Hancarevič, sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, to a correctional colony in Vićba, Viciebsk region.

New political prisoners

Belarusian human rights defenders declared six more people political prisoners. Viasna named them as Julija Jurhilevič, Darja Łosik, Valancin Samasiuk, Jaŭhien Karpaŭ, Maksim Stasiuk and Alaksandr Ajnutdzinaŭ. Their charges ranged from facilitating extremist activity to planning to participate in combat in a foreign land.

Release

Political prisoner Alaksandr Stankievič, sentenced to 19 months in the Zielcer case, was freed after serving the sentence, dissidentby reported.