{"id":139295,"date":"2025-05-22T12:06:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T09:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/139295\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"reprisals-reputable-think-tank-declared-extremist-group","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/139295\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: reputable think tank declared extremist group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 21, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> The Committee for State Security has declared the Belarusian Analytical Workroom an extremist group, the interior ministry reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It named Andrej Vardamacki, Maryna Novikava and Pavie\u0142 Vusa\u016d as individuals involved with the think tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Road to Hell (Hienad\u017a H\u0142u\u0161ako\u016d named as an associate) and the PartizanWave YouTube channel were given the same designations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the information ministry designated writer Sa\u0161a Filipienka’s Instagram page and the Belarusian Youth Hub website as extremist content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools, kindergartens, children’s art centres and other educational institutions in \u015aviet\u0142ahorsk, Homiel region, were ordered to dismiss all staff members who had been prosecuted under the Administrative Offenses Code since 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local officials demanded that even the heads of private institutions comply with the order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The layoffs will affect not only teachers but also support staff, Viasna Homiel reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian human rights groups designated eight people as political prisoners, according to Viasna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are Andrej Sitnika\u016d, Siarhiej Dziehciarenka, Alaksandar Aleksandro\u016dsk\u0456, Ja\u016dhien Bielandyk, Alaksandar Byka\u016d, Piotra Filipovi\u010d, Pavie\u0142 Bialucin and Vasil Hra\u010dycha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalist Dzianis Iva\u0161yn was likely placed in a punishment cell again. The journalist’s wife, Volha Iva\u0161yn, concluded so based on the absence of letters from her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the punishment cell, a prisoner is not allowed to correspond or go on walks. The only personal items he or she may take into the cell are a toothbrush, toothpaste and a towel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iva\u0161yn is serving a sentence of 13 years and one month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 7,000 people have faced politically motivated criminal charges since 2020, Viasna reported. A total of 3,940 detainees have been declared political prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whereabouts of at least 360 political prisoners remain unknown. Officials are withholding information about them, transferring inmates from one penitentiary institution to another without notifying their relatives and restricting correspondence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of May 22, human rights defenders identified at least 1,189 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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