{"id":1123,"date":"2023-08-30T11:59:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T08:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=1123"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"update-on-arrests-trials-politically-motivated-persecution-2","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>August 30,&nbsp;<em>BPN<\/em>.<\/strong>&nbsp;New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on August 29 with 17 new political prisoners recognized by human rights groups and more sentences imposed for social media posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arrests<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Police arrested a man in Hrodna for allegedly sharing opposition content and participating in 2020 protests, a pro-government Telegram channel reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New criminal charges<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Military analyst Andrej Parotnika\u016d has been charged with high treason, according to the trailer of a propaganda film to be broadcast by the&nbsp;<em>ONT<\/em>&nbsp;TV channel. Authorities accuse him of cooperating with Polish intelligence as well as collecting and sharing classified information &#8220;for a monetary reward.&#8221; Parotnika\u016d reportedly agreed to cooperate with investigators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trials<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On August 16, a judge in Po\u0142ack, Viciebsk region, jailed Vadzim Berdnika\u016d for 25 days for his tattoo, the Pahonia coat of arms, and a social media post dating back to December 2020, the Viciebsk branch of the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Criminal proceedings<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u017dana Siadleckaja, an employee with Belarusian National Technical University, U\u0142adzimir Dudko and Andrej Kurylonak were given two and a half years of restricted freedom in home confinement for participation in 2020 protests, Viasna said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A court in Minsk sentenced bar owner Alaksandar Kulba\u010dka to three years of restricted freedom in home confinement for participating in four protest rallies in 2020, Viasna reported. The sentence was given in late February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A judge in Brest sentenced Alaksiej Afana\u015bje\u016d, 67, to three years in prison and a fine of 1,110 rubels (about $350) on charges of insulting Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka and other officials, the Brest branch of Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On July 19, a judge in Minsk sentenced Alaksandar Lipski to one year of restricted freedom in home confinement for allegedly insulting \u0141uka\u0161enka online, Viasna said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Detention conditions<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A judge in Babrujsk, Mahilo\u016d region, ruled to transfer Andrej Sa\u010de\u016dka from the penal colony to a prison, MAYDAY.TEAM reported. He had spent 23 days in a punishment cell and two months in the colony\u2019s internal prison. Sa\u010de\u016dka is currently serving a six-year prison term for allegedly inciting hatred by his social media posts. The man was diagnosed with a mental illness in custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New political prisoners<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Belarusian human rights groups declared 17 people political prisoners. Authorities persecuted them for allegedly insulting \u0141uka\u0161enka and his officials, inciting hatred against Russians and desecrating state symbols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of August 30, human rights defenders identified at least 1,496 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>August 30,&nbsp;BPN.&nbsp;New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on August 29 with 17 new political prisoners recognized by human rights groups and more sentences imposed for social media posts. Arrests Police arrested a man in Hrodna for allegedly sharing opposition content and participating in 2020 protests, a pro-government Telegram channel reported. New criminal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[14],"class_list":["post-1123","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry","rubric-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"August 30,&nbsp;BPN.&nbsp;New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on August 29 with 17 new political prisoners\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August 30,&nbsp;BPN.&nbsp;New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on August 29 with 17 new political prisoners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/\"},\"headline\":\"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-30T08:59:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/\"},\"wordCount\":425,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/\",\"name\":\"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-30T08:59:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"August 30,&nbsp;BPN.&nbsp;New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on August 29 with 17 new political prisoners\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Pozirk\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Pozirk\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Pozirk\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Pozirk_online\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk","description":"August 30,&nbsp;BPN.&nbsp;New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on August 29 with 17 new political prisoners","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk","og_description":"August 30,&nbsp;BPN.&nbsp;New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on August 29 with 17 new political prisoners","og_url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/","og_site_name":"Pozirk","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/","article_modified_time":"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Pozirk_online","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/"},"headline":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution","datePublished":"2023-08-30T08:59:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/"},"wordCount":425,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/","name":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-08-30T08:59:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00","description":"August 30,&nbsp;BPN.&nbsp;New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on August 29 with 17 new political prisoners","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/1123\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/","name":"Pozirk","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization","name":"Pozirk","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Pozirk"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Pozirk_online"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/1123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"rubric","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rubric?post=1123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}