{"id":112184,"date":"2024-11-01T11:11:18","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T08:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/112184\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"reprisals-crackdown-in-hrodna-region","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/112184\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: crackdown in Hrodna region"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

November 1, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Mass raids and detentions are taking place in Smarho\u0144 and Va\u016dkavysk, Hrodna region. Officers are checking citizens’ phones for geolocation from the protest period of 2020 to summon suspicious people to the police, Sudy, Zaderzhaniya. Grodno i Oblast<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 30, 77-year-old activist Nina Bahinskaja was detained at Independence Square in Minsk while tying a white-red-white ribbon (an opposition symbol) on a tree near the closed Red Church. She was taken to a police department for questioning and later released until trial, Belsat<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three cases were considered in the Hrodna region against people accused of sharing extremist content, a minor offence punishable under Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses by a jail sentence of up to 15 days or a fine. Alena Biazrukava was tried in the Kareli\u010dy district, Yad\u017aviha Novik in the Lida district and Ta\u0107ciana Jako\u016d\u010dyk in the Slonim district. The verdicts are unknown, Pravo Imeyut<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third trial of designated political prisoner Viktoryja Kul\u0161a began in the Re\u010dyca District Court, Homiel region, on October 28, Viasna reported. She is accused of disobedience to prison authorities. In February 2021, Kul\u0161a was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and sent to serve her sentence in Homiel’s Women’s Colony No. 4. Later, she was convicted of disobedience twice and sentenced to two years in prison. Officers put pressure on her, sending her to a punishment cell and an internal prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, the Minsk City Court began the trial of Anastasija \u017dylskaja, accused of defaming the head of state, calling for sanctions and inciting hatred. The same court also opened the trial of Andrej \u0141abada, charged with insulting an official and financing extremism, likely for donations to opposition groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since August 13, the Brest Regional Court has been trying former political prisoner Vital Kor\u0161un, accused of violent disorder, riots and other crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Supreme Court panel upheld the guilty verdict for Valeryj Vodzin, sentenced in absentia on August 9 to 20 years in a medium-security penal colony in a “terrorist plot” case. He was also fined 24,000 rubels ($7,300).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, Belarusian human rights organizations designated nine more people as political prisoners: Vadzim Na\u016dcenia, Andrej Subcielny, Ukrainian citizens Sergey and Pavel Kabarchuks, Ludmi\u0142a Dejnieka, Volha Radzivonava, Danii\u0142 Palanski, Alaksandar Sudnikovi\u010d and Japanese citizen Masatoshi Nakanishi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 147 days there has been no contact with political prisoner Alaksandar Aranovi\u010d, a member of the opposition group Strana Dlya Zhizni sentenced to six years in prison in April 2021 for alleged violent disorder and riots, the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights activists are verifying reports that a young man convicted for political reasons might have died in early October in Mahilo\u016d’s penal colony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of November 1, human rights defenders identified at least 1,301 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian authorities have opened 7,400 politically-motivated criminal cases in the four years since the August 2020 presidential election, Viasna reported in late October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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