{"id":164532,"date":"2025-11-18T11:11:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T08:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/164532\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"reprisals-more-dissidents-accused-of-high-treason-extremism","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/164532\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: more dissidents accused of high treason, extremism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

November 18, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> New cases of politically-motivated persecution documented in Belarus from November 15 to 17 included high treason charges against social-democratic activist Mika\u0142aj Vitko\u016dski, arrested in September, the Viasna Human Rights Center said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extremism-related cases<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian authorities also continued abusing anti-extremist legislation to persecute political opponents, with two guilty verdicts for sharing information with the now-defunct Bie\u0142aruski Hajun initiative that monitored Russian military activities in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ivan Ka\u010daj\u0142a in Mazyr, Homiel region, was given four years of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility on charges of facilitating extremism, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alaksiej Prachor\u010dyk was also convicted over links to Bie\u0142aruski Hajun and may be serving a prison or a restricted freedom term, Na\u0161a Niva<\/em> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a separate development, two books by exiled writer Sa\u0161a Filipienka were branded as extremist content, Viasna said. Both books were earlier listed as \u201charmful to Belarus\u2019 interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harassment of journalists<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ihar Karniej, journalist and former prisoner who was pardoned in September and now lives in exile, revealed on Facebook that he was required to pay 63 rubels (some $21) for the time he was held at a pre-trial detention center in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ihar \u0141osik, another journalist freed together with Karniej and taken to Lithuania, reportedly received a similar demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exiled journalist Via\u010das\u0142a\u016d \u0141azara\u016d received a summons to Viciebsk police, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other cases<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN experts denounced the designation of the Belarusian Association of Human Rights Lawyers as an extremist group and called on<\/a> Belarus to end repression against independent lawyers, according to a statement published on ohchr.org<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blogger D\u017amitryj Kaz\u0142o\u016d said prison authorities in Belarus prohibit jailed regime critics from attending church services, Chry\u015bcijanskaja Vizija reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of November 18, human rights defenders identified at least 1,254 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Censorship, attacks on journalists documented on November 14<\/h3>\n
November 15, Pozirk. Belarus\u2019 media and human rights defenders reported new instances of censorship and persecution of journalists, as well as additions to the lists of political prisoners and extremists on November 14. The Supreme Court upheld a four-year prison sentence for …<\/div>\n \n