{"id":150278,"date":"2025-08-09T13:01:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T10:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/150278\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"reprisals-officers-collecting-saliva-from-political-emigrants-relatives","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/150278\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: officers collecting saliva from political emigrants\u2019 relatives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

August 9, Pozirk<\/em>. <\/strong>Authorities continue to arrest people for sharing information with the now-defunct Bie\u0142aruski Hajun group, which monitored military activity in Belarus. At least 38 people have been taken into custody, and at least six have been tried. Officials accuse Bie\u0142aruski Hajun contributors of supporting extremism, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 25, the Brest Regional Court sentenced freelance journalist Dani\u0142 Palanski to 10 years after finding him guilty of high treason, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said. Furthermore, the judge reportedly ordered Palanski to pay a fine of 21,000 rubels ($6,350).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirteen more people were added to the list of \u201cpersons involved in extremist activity.\u201d The document on the Ministry of Internal Affairs website now contains 5,589 entries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, Minsk banned the content of several social media accounts as extremist. According to the information ministry, they include the Telegram channel Fundacja Tutaka, the Instagram page belarusianmartyrology, the Facebook page Ihar Sluchak, as well as pages run by Russian blogger Maksim Kats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Front Line Defenders, an Ireland-based human rights organization, expressed alarm over Nasta \u0141ojka\u2019s deteriorating detention conditions. Earlier, Na\u0161a Niva<\/em> reported that wardens toughened the conditions by placing the Belarusian human rights activist in a penal colony\u2019s internal prison (PKT) for half a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials in Belarus have opened at least 22,500 \u201cextremism\u201d cases since 2020, Article 19 and Human Constanta reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, interior ministry officers are collecting genetic material (saliva) from the relatives of political emigrants\u2014activists and former political prisoners. According to Mayday.Team, the reason given is building a DNA database to identify people abroad, should the need arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian human rights groups designated eight more people as political prisoners, Viasna reported. They are Anastasija Har\u010dakova, Anastasija Sikirskaja, Pavie\u0142 Alaksieje\u016d, Ry\u010dard \u0141ohvina\u016d, Valancin Niki\u0161yn, Kaciaryna Dziaruha, Jan Paciupa and Alaksandar Zdaravienna\u016d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of August 9, human rights defenders identified at least 1,187 political prisoners, but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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