Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution

November 26, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on November 25.

Arrests

Police arrested Artur Piadźko, chief engineer of the Minskenergo energy company, for leaking data of 500 officials to opposition Telegram channels, the Belarusian Investigative Committee said. Authorities accused him of inciting hatred. Police also searched the home of another energy company employee in Viciebsk, jailing the woman for 15 days.

Police also arrested Juryj Dzikovič, Uładzimir Łaščatka, and Siarhiej Laŭko during a raid in Pastavy, Viciebsk region, Naša Niva reported.

Criminal charges

Authorities accused former university lecturer from Homiel Natalla Susłava of facilitating extremism for her interview to the Warsaw-based Belsat TV channel, pro-government sources said. Susłava has supported Belarusian volunteers who fight Russia in Ukraine after her son Pavieł, call sign Vołat, was killed in action there.

Authorities accused trade union leader Alaksandr Jarašuk, 71, of calling for sanctions in addition to charges of participating in protests, Narodnaja Vola reported. Jarašuk, in custody since April, had publicly opposed sanctions.

Criminal proceedings

The Minsk City Court started hearing a criminal case against leaders and activists of the outlawed Belarusian Trade Union of Electronic Industry Workers (REP), the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. Authorities accuse Hienadź Fiadynič, a longtime leader of the electronic union, its acting chair Vasil Bierasnieŭ, and activist Viačasłaŭ (Vacłaŭ) Areška of inciting hatred, calling for sanctions, and creating and running an extremist group. The judge ruled to close the trial to the public.

A court sentenced dentist Alaksandr Durajeŭ from Hrodna to three years in prison on charges of repeatedly insulting Alaksandr Łukašenka on social media.

Ivan Ziańko was sentenced to an additional year in prison for “malicious disobedience” to prison authorities. Ziańko is currently serving a six-year prison term for participating in protests. Human rights groups consider him a political prisoner.

A court sentenced Dźmitryj Duboŭski to five years in prison on charges of hooliganism and damaging property. He will serve a total of 20 years in prison taking into account his earlier politically-motivated sentence of 18 years in the anarchists’ case.

Maksim Łacuncevič, a father of seven, was sentenced to 22 months in prison for online comments on the 2021 shootout involving an IT engineer and KGB officers, known as the “Zielcer case.”

“Extremist” status

Belarusian interior ministry added 178 names to its register of people involved in extremist activities, including the well-known European Belarus campaigner Palina Šarenda-Panasiuk. A total of 2,059 people are currently on the list. Most of them were convicted on charges that are often used to suppress dissenters.

Authorities also blacklisted as extremist the content of the YouTube and Telegram channels of Ukrainian blogger BalaganOFF (Oleksandr Rykov) as well as the Instagram page of the Free Belarus Center, an independent initiative supporting people forced to leave Belarus, BPN reported.

Prosecutors in Minsk’s Saviecki district have forced major online stores not to sell books on the national list of extremist content, the Prosecutor General’s Office said. The list features several Belarusian history books as well as Nobel Prize-winning poet Joseph Brodsky’s “Song of a Small Tugboat.”

A court in Hrodna blacklisted Viasna’s Instagram page for the second time after the January ruling of a court in Homiel.

Other instances of persecution

Police questioned Iryna Damarackaja, a journalist of the independent newspaper Hancavicki Čas, about the newspaper’s articles and website, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reported.

As of November 26, human rights defenders identified at least 1,445 political prisoners.