Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution

January 7, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on January 6.

Arrests

Police arrested Radzion Kačatkoŭ after he had returned to Belarus from abroad, pro-government sources said. Authorities accuse him of inciting hatred in online comments.

Police also arrested a Gazprom Transgaz Belarus manager for subscribing to and sharing content from opposition Telegram channels.

Hrodna police arrested Mikałaj Chacianovič, CEO of a local mediation school, for participation in protests, online comments and subscriptions to opposition Telegram channels, pro-government sources said.

Trials

Authorities jailed Yekaterina Yanshina, a Russian journalist linked to the Memorial human rights organization, for 15 days, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. She covered the trial of Viasna’s leaders in Minsk on January 5.

Authorities sentenced Vadzim Žaromski to 10 days in jail after he had served a 15-day jail term, Viasna reported. He is the husband of prominent Belarusian human rights defender Marfa Rabkova, sentenced to 15 years in prison on politically-motivated charges.

Authorities also jailed actor Andrej Tryzubaŭ for 10 days, Viasna said. The reasons for his arrest and charges against him remain unclear.

Criminal proceedings

A court in Hrodna sentenced prominent cardiologist Anton Navumaŭ to two and a half years in an open-type correctional facility for participating in protests, Viasna said.

Vital Ryžanski will go on trial on Orša, Viciebsk region, on January 10. Authorities accuse him of insulting Alaksandr Łukašenka and public officials. The trial will be closed to the public.

Other instances of persecution

The Supreme Court upheld lengthy prison sentences for BelaPAN executives, BPN reported. In October 2022, media company’s CEO and editor in chief Iryna Leŭšyna was sentenced to four years in prison; the previous CEO, Dźmitryj Navažyłaŭ, to six years; former deputy CEO Andrej Alaksandraŭ, to 14 years; his wife Iryna Złobina, to nine years.

The defendants were accused of establishing an extremist group (Alaksandraŭ, Leŭšyna, Navažyłaŭ), treason (Alaksandraŭ, Złobina), tax evasion (Alaksandraŭ, Navažyłaŭ), and organization of actions grossly disturbing public order (Alaksandraŭ and Złobina). Human rights groups consider all four political prisoners.

Extremist list updates

The Belarusian interior ministry added 18 more people to its list of “persons involved in extremist activity,” taking the total to 2,281 names. Recent additions are mostly people convicted on politically-motivated charges of participating in protests or insulting Łukašenka and public officials.

As of January 7, human rights defenders identified at least 1,442 political prisoners.