{"id":140365,"date":"2025-05-29T10:36:21","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T07:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/140365\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"reprisals-another-ex-prisoner-dies-new-attacks-on-local-media","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/140365\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: another ex-prisoner dies, new attacks on local media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/ru\/news\/140342\/\">Former political prisoner Valer Bohdan dies of thrombosis nine months after release<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/ru\/news\/140350\/\">New attack on local media journalists<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/ru\/news\/140249\/\">Zhizn-malina among new extremist designations<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>May 29,&nbsp;<em>Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong>&nbsp;On May 27 and 28, the Belarusian media learned of the death of another former political prisoner and new attacks on remaining local media outlets in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Valer Bohdan dies nine months after release<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Andr\u0435j Stry\u017eak, co-founder of the BySol Solidarity Foundation, said on social media that former political prisoner Valer Bohdan died of thrombosis earlier this year nine months after his release from a penal colony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bohdan was detained on May 18, 2021. In September, he was sentenced to three years in prison after a judge found him guilty of insulting and libeling the head of state and inciting hatred. He was released in March 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Raids and interrogations of journalists<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Law enforcement officers raided editorial offices and interrogated several editors of local periodicals in late March and early April over alleged contracts with the German embassy in Belarus to run paid-for positive articles about Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>ONT<\/em>&nbsp;showed law enforcement officers raiding the office of&nbsp;<em>Vecherny Bobruysk<\/em>, in Babrujsk, Mahilo\u016d region, and interrogating editors Valancin Sysoj of&nbsp;<em>Vecherny Bobruysk<\/em>, Anatol Sanacienka of <em>babruisk.info<\/em>, U\u0142adzimir Skrabatun, founder of the now-defunct newspaper&nbsp;<em>Volnaje H\u0142ybokaje<\/em>&nbsp;banned by authorities, and Halina Budnaja of&nbsp;<em>Uzhorak<\/em>&nbsp;in Horki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ihar Tur, a leading <em>ONT<\/em> propaganda officer, accused the editors of receiving payment for positive articles about Germany from the German embassy, without specifying whether they are suspected of breaking any laws or whether the journalists have been arrested and face any charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Extremist designations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The interior ministry branded five online communities linked to the opposition as extremist groups on May 27, taking the total of entries on its register to 300.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One is the&nbsp;<em>Zhizn-Malina&nbsp;<\/em>YouTube project with almost 100,000 subscribers, run by blogger Mikita Mie\u0142kaziora\u016d, who regularly interviews Belarusian \u00e9migr\u00e9s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authorities also blacklisted the&nbsp;<em>\u0160A\u016cRO\u016c LIVE&nbsp;<\/em>community, including several social media accounts linked to exiled activist Filip \u0160a\u016dro\u016d, who had been persecuted on politically-motivated charges in Belarus and is now known for criticizing the opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Others are the<em>&nbsp;Partizany Belarusi&nbsp;<\/em>run by D\u017amitryj Rudako\u016d, the&nbsp;<em>MIDGARD ASYLUM<\/em>&nbsp;linked to Ivan Kavalski and<em>&nbsp;Radyjo 97<\/em>, including&nbsp;<em>radio97.net<\/em>, chats and social media pages. Belarusian law enforcers identified Maksim Cichienia and Volha Ciesakova, an exiled former deputy of Minsk City Council, as&nbsp;<em>Radyjo 97&nbsp;<\/em>members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Information inaccessible<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Supreme Court\u2019s electronic schedule of trials and the database of court rulings remain inaccessible. Human rights groups relied on these databases to track politically motivated cases. A maintenance page has been displayed at the URL address of the Supreme Court\u2019s schedule of trials across the country for nearly three months. The Supreme Court has also taken down a section on trials and rulings in criminal cases against foreign-based activists, the Viasna Human Rights Group noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Attacks on small business<\/strong> <strong>owners<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Law enforcement officers forced at least two small business owners who published advertisements on the opposition-linked SVAE application to post confession videos on their Instagram accounts. Police also searched homes in Belarus linked to Belarusians currently based abroad over ads on SVAE, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On May 28, at least 1,185 documented political prisoners were still serving their sentences. The real number of political prisoners is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented.<\/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\/05\/pressa_global_look_press-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/pressa_global_look_press-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/pressa_global_look_press-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/pressa_global_look_press-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/pressa_global_look_press-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/pressa_global_look_press.jpg 1128w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> \u041f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0430<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">\u041f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0430<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">State-run TV shows interrogations of local media editors over contacts with German embassy<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">May 28, Pozirk. Law enforcement officers raided editorial offices and interrogated several editors of local periodicals in late March over alleged contracts with the German embassy in Belarus to run paid-for positive articles about Germany, the state-run ONT television channel &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/140350\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read <\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>May 29,&nbsp;Pozirk.&nbsp;On May 27 and 28, the Belarusian media learned of the death of another former political prisoner and new attacks on remaining local media outlets in Belarus. Valer Bohdan dies nine months after release Andr\u0435j Stry\u017eak, co-founder of the BySol Solidarity Foundation, said on social media that former political prisoner Valer Bohdan died of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":63993,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-140365","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>Reprisals: another ex-prisoner dies, new attacks on local media | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former political prisoner Valer Bohdan dies of thrombosis nine months after release New attack on local media journalists Zhizn-malina among new extremist\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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