Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution

May 19, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on May 18 as authorities put political prisoners under pressure and continue arrests of dissenters. 

Arrested and released

Police arrested a man from the Białyničy district, Mahiloŭ region, after an online chat with truck driver Juryj Komar who is reportedly a police informer, Mediazona said. The arrested faces charges of inciting hatred, and insulting Alaksandr Łukašenka and public officials. 

Police also arrested singer Patrycyja Śvicina who rejected the Łukašenka-sponsored scholarship for talented youth in 2020. Authorities did not disclose charges against her but posted a video where she admits to participating in 2020 protests and commenting about police and Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

Police carried out a raid in Dziaržynsk, Minsk region, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. The home and workplace of at least one arrested person were searched. 

On May 18, police arrested a girl at Minsk airport who was returning from a vacation in Egypt, Mediazona reported. Officers found pictures from 2020 protests on her Google Photos account. In 2020, she had been arrested for participating in protests and fined. 

Authorities released Viktar Chlabiec, 41, sentenced to 18 months in prison for online comments on the 2021 shootout involving an IT engineer and KGB officers, known as the “Zielcer case,” the Brest branch of Viasna said. Chlabiec suffers from diabetes and is insulin dependent. 

Trials

On May 26, the Hrodna Regional Court will hear the liquidation case filed by local justice authorities against the Ašmiany-based Roma association, hrodna.life reported. Registered back in 2003, it had 22 members in January 2022 and has not held any public events lately.

 Criminal proceedings

ICU physician Valeryj Chamienka from Baranavičy, Brest region, went on trial in Brest on charges of rehabilitating Nazism in social media posts, Viasna said. 

Extremist list updates

On May 12, a district court in Minsk blacklisted the Telegram channel by prominent exiled opposition politician Zianon Paźniak as extremist content after a Baranavičy-based court had done the same in late March. 

Authorities also blacklisted several childfree groups on social media as well as Telegram channels dedicated to Belarusians fighting Russia in Ukraine. 

Other instances of persecution

Journalist Raman Pratasievič may be soon taken into custody as his verdict came into force, TASS reported. On May 3, authorities sentenced Pratasievič, arrested during the forced landing of the Ryanair flight in Minsk in 2021, to eight years in prison, finding him guilty of 11 criminal offenses. 

In early May, jailed anarchist activist Dźmitryj Rezanovič was placed in a punishment cell for eight days, the Pravo na Vosstaniye Telegram channel reported. In 2021, he was given a 19-year prison term on charges widely seen as politically motivated. Another defendant in the anarchist case, Dźmitryj Duboŭski, currently serving a 20-year term, spent two months in a punishment cell and was transferred to a closed prison for the next three months. 

Viasna reports worsened conditions in Minsk’s Detention Center No 1. Prison authorities withhold parcels with clothes and shoes. Inmates have to apply in writing to receive them and reportedly have to give up some of their clothes. Prison authorities also allow only vitamins and foreign-made insulin in parcels claiming that all other medications are available. 

As of May 19, human rights defenders identified at least 1,497 political prisoners.