{"id":131798,"date":"2025-03-27T13:42:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T10:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/131798\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"rights-defender-to-continue-advocacy-despite-extremism-charges-in-belarus","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/131798\/","title":{"rendered":"Rights defender to continue advocacy despite extremism charges in Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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March 27, Pozirk<\/em>. <\/strong>Exiled human rights defender Leanid Sudalenka has pledged to continue his work despite new extremism-related charges that Belarusian investigators have filed against him recently, MAYDAY.TEAM reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, several police officers and a prosecutor visited Sudalenka’s home in Belarus. They drew up an act testifying his absence, while one of the investigators told witnesses that Sudalenka was wanted on charges of facilitating extremism for alleged association with blacklisted opposition initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will appeal to the whole world in the fight against the [Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka] regime which violates the rights and freedoms of Belarusians,\u201d Sudalenka commented. “They want to add seven more years to my five-year sentence, and then up to 30 possible years of imprisonment in Belarus. But they can’t stop me, as I believe in the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The activist described his continued persecution in Belarus as Minsk\u2019s attempts \u201cto silence those who defend freedom and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudalenka left Belarus in July 2023 after serving a three-year prison term on protest-related charges. Last year, a judge in Homiel sentenced him in absentia to five years in prison on charges of facilitating extremism in connection with Sudalenka\u2019s work for the Viasna Human Rights Center, designated as an extremist group by Minsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court also ordered him to pay a fine of 26,000 rubels (about $7,900). A few weeks later, Belarusian police declared him wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also read: Supreme Court upholds prison sentence for exiled rights defender Sudalenka<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 27, Pozirk. Exiled human rights defender Leanid Sudalenka has pledged to continue his work despite new extremism-related charges that Belarusian investigators have filed against him recently, MAYDAY.TEAM reports. Yesterday, several police officers and a prosecutor visited Sudalenka’s home in Belarus. They drew up an act testifying his absence, while one of the investigators told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":131841,"template":"","rubric":[16,15],"class_list":["post-131798","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics","rubric-society"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRights defender to continue advocacy despite extremism charges in Belarus | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"March 27, Pozirk. Exiled human rights defender Leanid Sudalenka has pledged to continue his work despite new extremism-related charges that Belarusian\" \/>\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\/131798\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rights defender to continue advocacy despite extremism charges in Belarus | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"March 27, Pozirk. 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