{"id":109822,"date":"2024-10-17T12:42:12","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T09:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/109822\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"reprisals-kgb-harasses-legal-citizen-groups","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/109822\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: KGB harasses legal citizen groups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

October 16, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> The Committee for State Security (KGB) is “doing a lot of work with organizations operating inside Belarus legally,” Viasna reported. The human rights center said that the KGB over the past month summoned for interviews and detained people involved in various initiatives and projects. Agents are trying to conceal the harassment campaign from the general public, threatening their targets against disclosure. The activists have withheld the list of affected organizations for safety reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a separate development, authorities charged Brest journalist Dani\u0142a Palanski, 53, with high treason. Communication was lost with Palanski on September 19, after he returned from Russia. He is reportedly held at the KGB detention center. The journalist cooperated with various TV stations and regional websites as a cameraman. He also volunteered for the search and rescue team Anio\u0142, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three days ago, a court in Re\u010dyca, Homiel region, tried \u015aviat\u0142ana Haponienka, Hanna Maciu\u0161enka, Jana Maciu\u0161enka, Anastasija Sa\u016dli\u010d, Halina Truchtava, Julija \u010cy\u017ee\u016dskaja and Jelizavieta Mika\u0142aj\u010dyk under Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (circulating extremist information). The sentences are unknown, Viasna Homiel reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A judge sentenced the administrator of a tiny Telegram channel to 15 days in jail for posting “Nazi symbols,” Mediazona<\/em> reported. Police released a video of him saying that he is a neo-Nazi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minsk Regional Court sentenced Siarhiej Jun\u010dyc, a 50-year-old businessman selling medical equipment, to five years in prison, Na\u0161a Niva<\/em> reported. The KGB arrested him in a raid on January 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same court began the trial of Andrej Parotnika\u016d, of Belarus Security Blog, who was arrested in Moscow in March 2023. The political prisoner faces five charges, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minsk’s Leninski District Court is trying 24-year-old political prisoner Natalla Sa\u0142uk on violent disorder charges, Viasna added. The woman is accused of obstructing the passage of a traffic police car in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At some companies in the Hrodna region, employees have been forced to wear badges with the official symbols and stick stickers with the coat of arms and the state flag on their mobile phone cases. Managers have threatened to deprive them of bonuses in case of refusal, Sudy, Zaderzhaniya. Grodno i Oblast<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian authorities put up the cottage of former presidential hopeful Valer Capka\u0142a for sale at e-auction.by<\/em>. According to the auction data, \u200bthe Minsk cottage has an area of 418.3 sq. m, and all household appliances, interior furnishings and a plot of land are also being sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellit.info<\/em>, a literary website, is inaccessible in Belarus. The reasons are unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wardens at Hrodna’s Prison No. 1 have held anarchist activist Mika\u0142aj Dziadok, a designated political prisoner, in a punishment cell for more than three months. In September, media reported that authorities brought a new charge of malicious disobedience to prison authorities against him. Dziadok was arrested in November 2020 and then severely beaten and tortured. He was sentenced to five years behind bars, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police denied that popular singer Maks Kor\u017e is facing criminal charges, Viasna and a pro-government Telegram channel reported. All issues “can be resolved with a simple preventive conversation,” officers said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 15, the singer was summoned for an interview for allegedly displaying the opposition flag and supporting Ukraine at his gigs abroad. However, Kor\u017e is said to have fled the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of October 17, human rights defenders identified at least 1,288 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented with few volunteers remaining in Belarus as a result of the government crackdown on human rights organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian authorities have arrested about 65,000 people for political reasons in the four years since the August 2020 presidential election, Viasna reported in early August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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