Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution

January 11, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on January 10.

Arrests

Law enforcers in Hrodna arrested local resident Siarhiej Botvič for alleged calls for protests, Sudy, Zaderzhaniya. Hrodna i Oblast reported.

Security forces in Śvietłahorsk, Homiel region, arrested local resident Uładzimir Adziniec for online comments, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

Charges

Police completed an investigation against lawyer Alaksandr Danilevič and forwarded the case files to prosecutors, the Investigative Committee’s press office reported. Investigators accuse the jailed lawyer of complicity in calling for sanctions and promoting extremism.

Trials

A judge sentenced a jailed co-founder of the 100 Ballov education center, teacher Jaŭhien Liviant, to 10 days behind bars on top of his 14 days’ term for disorderly conduct, Radyjo Svaboda reported.

In December, police arrested a street musician in Minsk for performing a pro-Ukrainian song by the Lyapis Trubetskoy rock band. He is serving a jail term, Viasna reported.

A contributor of the Spadčyna Telegram channel, Uładzisłaŭ Čachovič, was sentenced to 15 days in jail for disseminating “extremist” content. He had been arrested on December 26, Viasna said.

The prosecutor requested that alleged administrators of Chernaya Kniga Belarusi (Black Book of Belarus), an online project exposing the identities of security officers who mistreated and brutalized peaceful protesters, be sentenced to 12 years in prison, Viasna reported. The trial of Janina Sazanovič, Daniił Bahdanovič, Dźmitry Navoša, Volha Vysockaja and Valeryja Zaniamonskaja opened in the Minsk City Court on December 12 without the defendants being present.

Singer Meryjem Hierasimienka, who was arrested in August for performing pro-Ukrainian songs and charged with public disorder, will go on trial on January 19, Viasna reported.

Political prisoner Juryj Kaściuk went on trial at the Brest Regional Court, Viasna said. He was arrested in Russia in October last year. Kaściuk is charged with two criminal offences. He had already served a politically motivated restricted freedom sentence.

A judge in Minsk stripped the Januškievič publishing house of its license, said Knihaŭka, the publisher’s Telegram channel. Last year, Januškievič relocated from Belarus to Poland after spending time in jail.

Prison conditions

Law enforcers transferred Alaksandr Rajentaŭ, serving a five-year sentence for two criminal offences, to Žodzina’s Prison No. 8 in the Minsk region, Viasna said.

Other news

Viasna wrote that Russian social network VKontakte blocked its and the Zerkalo news website’s pages at the request of Belarusian authorities.

Alaksandr Łukašenka rejected a petition to pardon convicted Russian national Sofya Sapega, Mediazona reported. She is serving a six-year sentence for administering opposition Telegram channel Chernaya Kniga Belarusi.

Polish writer Maja Wolny, who was planning to visit Belarus under its visa waiver program, was denied entry to the country on January 9.

Family members of people imprisoned on politically-motivated charges in Belarus and former political prisoners urged world leaders to take more decisive action for the release of political prisoners. It should include negotiations as well as both public and non-public diplomacy, they stressed. The group includes Taćciana Chomič, sister of prominent imprisoned regime critic Maryja Kaleśnikava; Alaksandr Łojka, husband of imprisoned journalist Iryna Słaŭnikava; and Śviatłana Mackievič, wife of a prominent opposition activist and philosopher Uładzimir Mackievič. Twenty-nine persons have signed the appeal so far.

A national commission evaluated 1,400 works and messages for extremism in 2021-22, says a report on the activities of MP Lilija Ananič, the commission’s head. “Of these, 1,379 were found to contain signs of extremism and rehabilitation of Nazism,” the report reads. In all, it found signs of extremism in 98.5 percent of the examined print, audio, video and other items.

As of January 11, human rights defenders identified at least 1,440 political prisoners.