Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution

February 24, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on February 23.

Several arrested, one released

Minsk police arrested Vital Prynieślik over a picture of him and his wife Lizaveta against a background with a white-red-white flag, Chryścijanskaja Vizija reported. Lizaveta Prynieślik, an Instagram blogger with over 50,000 followers, remains free as the family has a minor child. Authorities accuse the couple of participating in protests. Both are parishioners of the New Life Protestant Church.

Alaksandra Kasko, jailed on February 10 for 10 days on her return to Belarus, remains in custody, a Telegram channel monitoring politically-motivated persecution in Hrodna and the Hrodna region said. Authorities jailed her for allegedly disseminating opposition content, but have not disclosed current charges against her.

Authorities released prominent sports journalist Alaksandr Ivulin after he had served a two-year prison term for allegedly taking part in antigovernment protests, BPN reported. He left Belarus.

Criminal proceedings

A court in Brest sentenced Daniił Kaściukievič, 20, to three years in prison in a closed trial for online comments on the 2021 shootout involving an IT engineer and KGB officers, known as the “Zielcer case,” the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

A court in Pinsk, Brest region, sentenced Žana Paŭłovič, 54, to two years of restricted freedom in home confinement for allegedly insulting Alaksandr Łukašenka in social media.

Extremist content updates

Authorities blacklisted as extremist a number of opposition social media pages and Telegram channels, including journalist Kaciaryna Pytleva’s TitTok account, an issue of the newspaper Svaboda dating back to October 1997 and several ZA VOLU newspaper issues from 1995.

New political prisoners

Human rights defenders added 13 names to the list of political prisoners, Viasna reported. New additions include Viktar Savaševič, Alaksandr Sazonaŭ, Jaŭhien Vasileŭski, Mikita Karpienka, Maksim Jarašenka, Kanstancinn Chanin, Andrej Bykaŭ, Sviatłana Byčkoŭskaja, Andrej Ruskich, Dźmitryj Lahucienka, Vasil Jermakoŭ, Pavieł Rakoca and Andrej Šklar.

Other instances of persecution

The justice ministry’s qualification commission disbarred Aksana Biełaja, Volha Dziamidčyk, Natalla Vołkava and Siarhiej Dziemjančuk, the ministry reported. It also said lawyers Ihar Dźjačkoŭ and Taćciana Kavalevič did not have sufficient qualifications to practice law. Biełaja was a defense attorney for Tut.by editor in chief Maryna Zołatava, who is currently on trial on charges widely seen as politically motivated.

Authorities sent Kryścina Čarankova to a women’s prison in Homiel, Viasna said. She was given a two-and-a-half-year term for online comments.

As of February 24, human rights defenders identified at least 1,450 political prisoners.