Rights groups declare two political prisoners

December 23, BPN. Belarusian human rights activists have declared two more people political prisoners, the Viasna Human Rights Center reports.

One is Fieliks Žylinski, sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for insulting Alaksandr Łukašenka and calling to resist arrests and a crackdown on peaceful protests. Activists said he was detained under “dubious” pretext of storing a porn pic in order to publish it.

Another one is Andrej Navakoŭski, convicted to three years’ imprisonment for disturbing public order and resisting being arrested, without seriously hurting police officers.

The declaration was signed by Viasna, Pravavaja Inicyjatyva, Human Constanta, the Barys Zvozskaŭ Human Rights House, and Belarusian PEN.

The signees demand that all political prisoners should be released.

Human rights defenders have identified 1,442 political prisoners, but the real figure must be even higher because, according to activists, some political detainees cannot contact them, or do not want to for fear of repercussions.