{"id":152574,"date":"2025-08-26T11:46:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T08:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/152574\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"reprisals-belarus-border-checks-used-to-identify-dissenters","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/152574\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: Belarus border checks used to identify dissenters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Briefly: Exiled By_Help, BySol founders given lengthy terms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalist imprisoned over alleged links to BAJ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opposition activist goes missing in Istanbul<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

August 26,<\/strong> Pozirk.<\/strong> <\/em>New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus from August 23 to 25 as Mediazona<\/em> reported reinforced checks of travelers entering Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Border guards single out people who have been staying abroad for prolonged periods, participants in the 2020 postelection protests and Ukrainian passport holders, it noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a separate development, a Homiel judge sentenced exiled Alaksiej Lavon\u010dyk and Andrej Stry\u017eak, heads of the By_Help and BySol foundations, respectively, to 18 years in prison and fined them 252,000 rubels ($74,500) each, the state-run\u00a0Gomelskaya Pravda<\/em>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other defendants were given 16-year prison terms and fined 231,000 rubels each. They are: IT entrepreneur Jaras\u0142a\u016d Licha\u010de\u016dski, co-creator of the New Belarus digital platform; BySol co-founder Alaksiej Ku\u017amianko\u016d; IT entrepreneur Alaksandar Padhorny linked to BySol; Alaksandar \u0141apko, head of the Warsaw-based Belarusian Youth Hub; Alaksandra \u017duk (\u0179vierava), activist and former girlfriend of the regime\u2019s prisoner Eduard Babaryka, Pozirk<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brest-based journalist Aleh Supruniuk was given three years in prison for alleged association with an extremist group, most likely the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), the latter said. The man has a hearing impairment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police arrested a 34-year-old Viciebsk man and charged him in a criminal case for tearing down a state flag, walking around with it for 100 meters and then throwing it to the ground, the Viciebsk branch of the Viasna Human Rights Center said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minsk businessman Hienad\u017a Sa\u016drycki, his wife Iryna Sa\u016drycki and daughter Vijaleta Viarbickaja were convicted of inciting hatred last year, Viasna said. Earlier this year, authorities branded them as persons \u201cinvolved in extremist activities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anatol Kota\u016d of the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Fund (BSSF) stopped replying to calls and messages five days ago after leaving Warsaw for Istanbul, BSSF head Alaksandar Apejkin has said on Facebook. Kota\u016d’s family members filed a report with the Turkish police and the Polish consulate in Istanbul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of August 26, human rights defenders identified at least 1,195 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher due to many undocumented cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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