Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution

July 29, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on July 28 as authorities continue cracking down on dissenters.

Arrests

Authorities filed criminal charges against at least two persons that police identified in Mikałaj Maminaŭ’s film about the 2020 protests released on Delfi’s YouTube channel, a pro-government Telegram channel said.

Police arrested a couple from Barysaŭ, Minsk region, following another hoax by Juryj Komar who is reportedly a police informer, Mediazona said. The woman was released as one of the couple’s four children is still a toddler. A least eight people suffered from Komar’s online provocations since the start of 2023.

Arrested co-owner of the Mockingbird bar in Minsk, allegedly a Russian national, admitted to participating in protests in Belarus, a YouTube channel linked to police reported.

Former Mahiloŭ history museum head Alaksiej Baciukoŭ is under arrest, MAYDAY TEAM said. The charges against him remain unclear. 

A Minsk man was arrested on charges of public display of Nazi symbols, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.

Nine people are under arrest in Homiel for sharing opposition content, a pro-governmental Telegram channel said.

Criminal proceedings

A judge in Minsk sentenced Jaŭhien Vierchavodzin to seven years in prison for participating in protests and running an opposition Telegram channel, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

On July 10, Uładzimir Hanusievič, Albert Harbuz, Maksim Stašulonak, Alaksandar Konanaŭ and Siarhiej Hlinski were given a year in prison each over protests, Viasna said.

On July 6, a judge in Minsk sentenced Alena Miłajeva to 18 months of restricted freedom in home confinement on similar charges. The woman pleaded guilty after police identified her on pictures from a protest rally available online.

Palina Kib was given the same term over protests in Žłobin, Homiel region, Viasna said. Her husband Dźmitryj Kib is currently serving two years of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility on charges widely seen as politically motivated.

Viasna also learned about poet Dźmitryj Jurtajeŭ’s two-year prison sentence. Authorities accused him of insulting Alaksandar Łukašenka and inciting hatred, blacklisting him as an extremist.

Trials

Ina Voranava, Aleh Šuleška, Dźmitryj Sidorčyk and Maryna Nieścier were tried for sharing opposition content, a Telegram channel monitoring politically-motivated persecution in Hrodna and the Hrodna region reported.

Extremist list updates

Authorities added 18 names to the list of people they say are involved in extremism, taking their total to 3,086 people, BPN reported.

Other instances of persecution

The health of jailed politician Mikałaj Statkievič deteriorated in prison, a source close to his family told BPN. There has been no news about jailed politician for a total of 168 days, according to his wife Maryna Adamovič.

As of July 29, human rights defenders identified at least 1,475 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.