ByPol trial opens in Minsk

January 22, Pozirk. The Minsk City Court has started hearing a case against alleged members of the exiled ByPol resistance group without the defendants being present, the state-run media outlets reported.

Judge Dzina Kučuk was scheduled to preside over the proceedings, according to the Supreme Court’s website.

Charges against Alaksandar Azaraŭ, Uładzimir Žyhar, Maciej Kuprejčyk, Ihar Łoban, Andrei Astapovič and Aleh Talerčyk range from inciting hatred and insulting officials to high treason, forming an extremist group, committing terrorist acts and conspiracy to seize state power.

ByPol, branded by the Belarusian government a “terrorist” group in late August 2022, allegedly exerted physical and psychological pressure on officials by disclosing personal data, as well as the data of their family members, including young and minor children, the prosecutor said.

Last September, Belarusian investigators filed criminal charges against current and former ByPol members under special proceedings that target those living abroad and evading contact with investigators.

In early summer 2023, original ByPol members renamed it BelPol after expelling former police officers Azaraŭ and Stanisłaŭ Łupanosaŭ.

In August, Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja dismissed Azaraŭ from her shadow cabinet but let him coordinate the opposition’s Pieramoha Plan. Azaraŭ’s current organization is named ByPol.