Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution

June 28, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on June 27 with authorities keeping up pressure on jailed regime critics.

Arrests

Hrodna police arrested Siarhiej Drahun for allegedly posting some 400 online comments insulting Alaksandr Łukašenka, police officers and public officials, a pro-government source said.

New criminal cases

Jailed Alaksiej Kamaroŭski faces a new charge of insulting a public official, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. In February, authorities sentenced him to four years in prison for an alleged attempt to run over a traffic policeman during 2020 post-election protests in Minsk.

Other instances of persecution

Authorities have transferred journalist Dzianis Ivašyn to Prison No 8 in Žodzina, Minsk region, with tougher conditions, his wife Volha said. He is currently serving a 13-year term on charges widely seen as politically motivated.

The two-year prison sentence has entered into force for Uładzisłaŭ Dubroŭski, Viasna reported. Authorities persecuted him for participation in 2020 protests.

The Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling against Ukrainian Pavel Kupryenko and Belarusian Taras Mačynski sentenced on charges of spying and high treason to seven and ten years, respectively, the Prosecutor General’s Office said. The case also involved Dzmitryj Sałaviančyk fined 14,800 rubels (some $5,900) for failing to tip off the police.

Jailed Alina Zabaštanskaja suffered several epilepsy episodes at the women’s prison in Homiel where she is serving a two-year prison term for online comments, Viasna reported.

Extremist content update

Authorities blacklisted Luninec i Dubonosov, Strana Belarus and Nasha Belarus pages on Odnoklassniki, Viasna’s Twitter account as well as the website and social media of singer Andrej Ciapin.

As of June 28, human rights defenders identified at least 1,498 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented. Opposition sources estimate the number of political prisoners at around 5,000.