Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution

December 8, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on December 7.

One arrested, several released

Police arrested journalist Łarysa Ščyrakova and took her 15-year-old son Sviatasłaŭ to the Homiel district social service center, RFE/RL Belarus Service reported.

Authorities released Tiktok blogger Antanina Valkova. Police arrested her on November 14 for alleged participation in protests, the Belarusian Council for Culture said.

Viktar Dzienisienka and Jaŭhien Kalpačyk were released after having served their full sentences of 18 months of restricted freedom at an open-type correctional facility each for participating in 2020 protests in Brest, the Viasna Human Rights Center said.

Criminal proceedings

Authorities sent to court a criminal case against Juryj Kaściuk accused of transferring money to families of people convicted in politically-motivated cases, Viasna reported. Earlier, Kaściuk had served a one-year prison term for desecrating state symbols and left for Russia, where he was arrested again and sent to Belarus.

Other instances of persecution

Authorities transferred Dźmitryj Siemčanka, a former state television journalist, from Detention Center No 1 in Minsk to Prison No 8 in Žodzina, Minsk region, Viasna said. He faces charges of inciting hatred. Human rights groups declared him a political prisoner.

Illa Vieramiejeŭ, 19, currently serving six and a half years in prison for online comments, was transferred to Penal Colony No 2 in Babrujsk, Mahiloŭ region.

Andrej Sciepańkoŭ started serving his two-and-a-half prison sentence for allegedly insulting public officials and Alaksandr Łukašenka.

Maryja Kaleśnikava’s recent emergency hospitalization with a perforated ulcer and peritonitis was a result of her disproportionately cruel treatment in a punitive cell, Viktar Babaryka’s campaign said.

Content blacklisted as extremist

A court in Minsk blacklisted the opposition’s transitional cabinet’s Telegram channel, the Dvizheniye Bolshinstva (Majority Movement) Telegram channel, its chat and chat bot as well as the Belarusian Investigative Center’s YouTube channel as extremist content, BPN reported. A court in the Viciebsk region also branded Viktar Łahadziuk’s personal page in the Odnoklassniki social network as extremist.

As of December 8, human rights defenders identified at least 1,441 political prisoners.