{"id":126293,"date":"2025-02-14T09:57:25","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T06:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/126293\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"reprisals-belarusians-online-activities-in-focus","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/126293\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: Belarusians\u2019 online activities in focus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Briefly: Man wanted in Viciebsk region for insulting \u0141uka\u0161enka online<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

IT specialist given nine years in prison for donations to blacklisted opposition group<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vkontakte group administrator from H\u0142ybokaje sentenced to restricted freedom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigators launch probe against former athlete upon his return to Belarus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minsk frees unnamed US citizen, two Belarusians<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

February 14, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> BySol’s Andrej Stry\u017eak warned Belarusians that law enforcers posing as BySol activists are trying to gain information about the Bie\u0142aruski Hajun monitoring group that shut down earlier this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other cases of politically-motivated persecution documented in Belarus on February 12 and 13 included criminal and minor offense charges linked to online activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ihar \u0160kieta\u016d, who administered a local VKontakte community, was given two years of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility on violent disorder charges one week ago in H\u0142ybokaje, Viciebsk region, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HR specialist Viktoryja Rek\u015b\u0107 was tried in Sianno, Viciebsk region, for sharing opposition content, the Viciebsk branch of the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. The sentence remains unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alena Niekra\u0161evi\u010d was tried on similar charges in Buda-Ka\u0161alova, Homiel region, the Vitebsk, Ya Gulayu. Novosti Vitebska<\/em> Telegram channel said. The woman is the namesake of a school principal and deputy head of the Bie\u0142aja Rus pro-government association’s local branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The information ministry announced extremist content designations for several Telegram channels, including Pravakatar BY<\/em> and STALKERUA<\/em>; aliaksandrakhanevich<\/em> on Instagram and BEL.PRAVDA<\/em> on TikTok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ihar Sielichana\u016d is wanted in Or\u0161a, Viciebsk region, for allegedly insulting Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, Viasna’s Viciebsk branch said. Earlier, his Odnoklassniki page was branded extremist content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criminal proceedings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A judge in Minsk sentenced IT specialist Alaksandar Zijazietdzina\u016d to nine years in prison 11 months ago, Dissidentby reported.\u00a0 Following his arrest in June 2022, the man was found guilty of financing extremist activities in connection with donations to the ByPol opposition group and given three years in prison. Law enforcers seized 30 bitcoins from him later and accused him of financing terrorism after ByPol was branded a “terrorist” organization in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maksim Stara\u015bcienka, accused of inciting hatred and rioting went on trial in Viciebsk, the Vitebsk, Ya Gulayu<\/em> said. The judge ruled to close the proceedings to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian prosecutors have filed more than 1,000 requests to blacklist information products as extremist since 2020, including 450 requests last year alone, the Minsk region’s Prosecutor’s Office said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other cases<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Investigative Committee said it completed the probe against a 48-year-old Minsk man accused of inciting hatred and rehabilitating Nazism. They claim he had been insulting officials online for more than three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigators also confirmed checking reports about the potential involvement in 2020 postelection protests of Arsie\u0144 Zdanievi\u010d, former athlete and ex-husband of Belarusian-born Polish sprinter Kry\u015bcina Cimano\u016dskaja. They cited recent social media posts, including by his ex-wife, with information that Zdanievi\u010d returned to Belarus. His actions in the past may amount to discrediting the state and inciting hatred, they claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two days ago, Minsk freed former RFE\/RL<\/em> journalist Andrej Ku\u017anie\u010dyk, opposition activist Alena Ma\u016d\u0161uk and an unnamed US citizen, the team of Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja said on Telegram. All three have already left Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of February 14, human rights defenders identified at least 1,226 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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