{"id":156858,"date":"2025-09-24T11:45:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T08:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/156858\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"reprisals-belarus-political-prisoner-count-nears-1200","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/156858\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: Belarus\u2019 political prisoner count nears 1,200"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

September 24, Pozirk<\/em>. <\/strong>New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on September 23 as rights groups added 20 new names to the political prisoners list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the new names on the list is Polish Carmelite monk Grzegorz Gawe\u0142 arrested in the Viciebsk region earlier this month and accused of spying, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least 188 women are currently jailed in politically-motivated cases in Belarus, with 1,839 convicted in criminal cases since August 2020, Viasna noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jailed Polish minority activist and journalist Andrej Pa\u010dobut (Andrzej Poczobut) is mentally well and receives medications, said An\u017ealika Borys (And\u017celika Borys), head of the unofficial Union of Poles in Belarus. She was allowed to meet him at Penal Colony No. 1 in Navapo\u0142ack, Viciebsk region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, Gazeta Wyborcza<\/em> also reported that Pa\u010dobut had been nominated for the Sakharov Prize, which it described as the European Union\u2019s most important human rights award. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigators did not allow Iryna Levina, a former designated political prisoner and a mother of four, to go to Minsk for medical treatment, Viasna\u2019s Homiel branch said. The woman is suffering from cancer and needs an urgent bone marrow transplant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A group of independent UN experts strongly condemned the attempted deportation of opposition politician Mika\u0142aj Statkievi\u010d from Belarus and his subsequent disappearance, calling on Minsk to provide information about his whereabouts and health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of September 24, human rights defenders identified at least 1,196 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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