Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution

February 4, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on February 3.

Arrests

Police arrested opposition activist Mikałaj Čarnavus Jr., son of Mikałaj Čarnavus, a businessman and public activist from Baranavičy, Brest region, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. Neighbors saw about a dozen armed policemen arriving at his house in the morning on February 2. Čarnavus Jr. was taken away in handcuffs after the search. The outcome of his trial which presumably took place on February 3 remains unclear.

Dźmitryj Haŭrylin, lead singer of the ethnic rock band Ban Žvirba, and his wife Viktoryja remain under arrest since January 27, volunteer Illa Mironaŭ reported. Haŭrylin’s whereabouts are unknown.

Police are conducting mass arrests in Fanipal, Minsk region, following the alleged identification of those who participated in a large 2020 protest rally, Viasna said.

Student Jaŭhien Drazdoŭ from Babrujsk, Mahiloŭ region, was arrested after a certain Ihar Kaniušyk provoked him into talking about politics in a Telegram video chat and then passed the footage to police, Naša Niva reported.

Criminal proceedings

A court in Minsk sentenced Darja Hanič, 18, to three months in jail and Kaciaryna Snihirava, to 18 months of restricted freedom in home confinement for tearing down the state flag, Viasna reported. 

Authorities also sentenced Dźmitryj Buben to two years of restricted freedom in home confinement over protests.

A court in the Brest region sentenced designer Dzianis Kaval to 15 months of restricted freedom in home confinement for online comments about policemen, written in late 2020 and early 2021.

Detention conditions

Authorities transferred Siarhiej Kirejenka to Penal Colony No 2 in Babrujsk, Mahiloŭ region. Kirejenka, a former IT worker, is currently serving a three-and-a-half-year prison term on charges widely seen as politically-motivated. Earlier, the Committee for State Security Committee (KGB) blacklisted him as a terrorist.

Taćciana Karpovič from Viciebsk was transferred to a women’s colony in Homiel. Authorities convicted her to five years in prison for sharing information with Chernaya Kniga Belarusi (Black Book of Belarus), an online project exposing the identities of security officers who mistreated and brutalized peaceful protesters. Human rights groups consider Karpovič a political prisoner and authorities, a terrorist.

Authorities refused to release from custody Anatol Puhač, 28, because of his Polish residence permit. Police arrested the man in mid-December 2022 upon his return from Poland and accused him of insulting Alaksandr Łukašenka. He came back to Belarus to treat cancer.

“Extremism” updates

Authorities backlisted Al’jans rassledovatelej Belarusi (Alliance of Belarus’ Investigators) YouTube channel as extremist content, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.

The Belarusian interior ministry blacklisted 18 more people as extremists, including trade union activist Alaksandr Mišuk and the journalist couple Śniažana Inaniec and Alaksandr Łyčaŭka, BPN reported.

As of February 4, human rights defenders identified at least 1,432 political prisoners.