{"id":122045,"date":"2025-01-16T18:18:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T15:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122045\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"belarus-holds-estonian-in-detention-on-politically-motivated-charges","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122045\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarus holds Estonian in detention on politically-motivated charges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>January 16, <em>Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Estonian national Alan Roya has been held in pre-trial detention in Belarus since January 2024 on suspicion of association with an &#8220;extremist group,\u201d the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB) declared the Fund of Belarus Friend LTD an extremist group on January 16, 2024. It named Roya, as well as Belarusians Aleh Stefanovi\u010d and Alaksandar Syryca, as suspected members. The circumstances of Roya\u2019s arrest are unknown, but the KGB and police routinely use extremism charges to persecute dissidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Fund of Belarus Friend LTD was established to help victims of political repression. Its website has not been updated since 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"insert-block\">\n\n    <div class=\"insert-block__img\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"354\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752.jpg 1128w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Politics<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">Politics<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">KGB brands another online community extremist group<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">January 16, Pozirk. The Committee for State Security (KGB) added a group of people united by several Telegram channels with links to the so-called Pert organization to its extremist register on January 13. The 19-year-old U\u0142adzis\u0142a\u016d Varonin was named as &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/122010\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read<\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 16, Pozirk. Estonian national Alan Roya has been held in pre-trial detention in Belarus since January 2024 on suspicion of association with an &#8220;extremist group,\u201d the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. The Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB) declared the Fund of Belarus Friend LTD an extremist group on January 16, 2024. It named [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":58226,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-122045","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","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>Belarus holds Estonian in detention on politically-motivated charges | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"January 16, Pozirk. Estonian national Alan Roya has been held in pre-trial detention in Belarus since January 2024 on suspicion of association with an\" \/>\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\/122045\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belarus holds Estonian in detention on politically-motivated charges | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"January 16, Pozirk. Estonian national Alan Roya has been held in pre-trial detention in Belarus since January 2024 on suspicion of association with an\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122045\/\" \/>\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 property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/zakliuchenie_unsplash_marco_chilese_1128x752.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1128\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"752\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\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=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122045\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122045\/\"},\"headline\":\"Belarus holds Estonian in detention on politically-motivated charges\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-16T15:18:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122045\/\"},\"wordCount\":113,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122045\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/zakliuchenie_unsplash_marco_chilese_1128x752.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122045\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122045\/\",\"name\":\"Belarus holds Estonian in detention on politically-motivated charges | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122045\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/122045\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/zakliuchenie_unsplash_marco_chilese_1128x752.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-16T15:18:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"January 16, Pozirk. 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