{"id":156408,"date":"2025-09-20T22:43:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T19:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/156408\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"belarus-uses-incitement-charge-for-repression-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/156408\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarus uses incitement charge selectively for repression \u2013 lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

September 20, Pozirk<\/em>. <\/strong>Belarus uses the Criminal Code article against inciting hatred selectively to repress civil society and the pro-democracy movement, Lawyer Vika Rudziankova said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Viasna center, at least 778 people have been sentenced under the article since 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incitement article had been included in the Criminal Code to protect vulnerable groups \u201cbased on race, religion, skin color, ethnicity and other characteristics,\u201d Rudziankova said in an explainer<\/a> on Viasna\u2019s website on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut in 2021, the term ‘other social groups’ was added to Article 130 of the Criminal Code as the regime defined those whom it does not allow to criticize\u2014itself and its officials,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police officers and judges are protected the same way as vulnerable groups, such as ethnic and religious minorities–Poles, Roma, Ukrainians or Muslims, the lawyer stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ex-prisoner to sue Belarus in US over reprisals<\/h3>\n
August 19, Pozirk. Belarusian-American lawyer Jura\u015b Ziankovi\u010d plans to sue Belarus in a US court over reprisals after spending four years in a Belarusian prison, he said in Warsaw yesterday. The case concerns the fate of \u201chundreds and thousands of …<\/div>\n \n