{"id":130301,"date":"2025-03-17T13:15:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T10:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/130301\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"pardoned-dissident-leaves-belarus-reunites-with-family","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/130301\/","title":{"rendered":"Pardoned dissident flees Belarus to reunite with family"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (spring96.org)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

March 17, Pozirk. <\/em><\/strong>Opposition activist Antanina Kanava\u0142ava, a <\/em><\/strong>former associate of \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja during her 2020 presidential election, left Belarus, her mother Hanna Kanava\u0142ava said on Facebook yesterday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following her arrest in September 2020, the activist was given five and a half years in prison on rioting charges widely seen as politically motivated. She was persecuted for running an opposition Telegram channel. Authorities blacklisted her as a terrorist and an extremist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In mid-December 2024, Kanava\u0142ava was released under a pardon program, according to the Viasna Human Rights Center. She was diagnosed with visual impairment while in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her husband Siarhiej\u00a0Jara\u0161evi\u010d was sentenced to the same term and was later given nine more months in prison on disobedience charges routinely used in Belarus to keep regime critics behind bars longer. The couple has two minor children, who have been staying with their grandmother in Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hanna Kanava\u0142ava thanked those who helped her and her grandchildren to \u201cendure and sometimes survive\u201d in exile. \u201cI owe you an enormous debt of gratitude. I hug everyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians have left the country since the 2020 political crisis fearing politically-motivated persecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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