{"id":210217,"date":"2026-11-03T12:51:27","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T09:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/210217\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T13:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T10:13:17","slug":"numerous-new-cases-of-politically-motivated-persecution-in-belarus","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/210217\/","title":{"rendered":"Numerous new cases of politically motivated persecution in Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>November 3, <em>Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>Sources in Belarus reported lengthy prison sentences, \u201cextremist\u201d designations, searches and other instances of politically motivated persecution between October 27 and November 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below is <em>Pozirk\u2019s<\/em> recap:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Minsk City Court on October 26 sentenced three men to up to 25 years in prison over their alleged links to ByPol, a now-defunct exiled resistance and intelligence group. Ivan Ba\u0142a\u0161enka, Hienrych Ahieje\u016d and Juryj Vasile\u016dski were sentenced to 25, 21 and 17 years in prison, respectively, on 12 criminal charges, including terrorism and high treason, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Vital Dziamid\u010dyk, who holds a Belarusian and a Czech citizenship, has been sentenced to six years in prison. He was arrested on June 30, 2026, after he came to Belarus to visit his ailing mother, said Kry\u015bcina \u0160yjanok, head of the Belarusian pro-democracy forces\u2019 office in Prague.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s supporter, who smeared \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja in his comments on her social media posts, was sentenced to 10 days in jail for disseminating \u201cextremist\u201d content. The commentator, whose name is unknown, was violently arrested by masked policemen. During his trial, the man insisted that his comments were \u201cwell-intentioned\u201d and argued that lawmaker Aleh Hajdukievi\u010d also criticizes opposition representatives on Threads, <em>Nasha Niva<\/em> reported.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A judge at the Lozna District Court in the Viciebsk region sentenced a local resident to two years of community service over obscene comments about \u0141uka\u0161enka that he allegedly made in an outpatient hospital in May 2026 in a state of alcoholic intoxication, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Belarus\u2019 Investigative Committee has instituted \u201cspecial\u201d criminal proceedings against exiled Belarusians U\u0142adzimir Parfinovi\u010d, Ludmi\u0142a \u017ddanko and Ja\u016dhien \u0160pako\u016dski on charges widely used by the \u0141uka\u0161enka regime to persecute its opponents.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Belarusian journalists Alaksandar Vasilevi\u010d, Adarja Hu\u0161tyn, Alaksandar Paskievi\u010d and Hleb Siamiona\u016d have been placed on Russia\u2019s wanted list, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The information ministry has added 16 Threads, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram and Tiktok accounts and a website to its list of \u201cextremist content.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Political prisoner Dzianis Iva\u0161yn, a journalist sentenced to 13 years and one month in prison in September 2022, has not been in contact with his family for more than 20 days, which indicates that he may be in a punishment cell, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Human rights defenders have confirmed at least 240 convictions over links to Bie\u0142aruski Hajun, a now-defunct online initiative that monitored Russian military activities in Belarus from 2022 to 2025, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At least 134 people have been arrested on politically motivated criminal charges after returning to Belarus. They have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Police conducted searches in the Minsk home of exiled opposition activist Volha Mika\u0142aj\u010dyk as well as in her mother\u2019s home.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The number of documented political prisoners in Belarus increased by four to 887, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. The actual number of political prisoners in the country is much larger, as many cases go unreported.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"insert-block\">\n\n    <div class=\"insert-block__img\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"354\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/kutilo_pisma_dok_leipzig_1128x752-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/kutilo_pisma_dok_leipzig_1128x752-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/kutilo_pisma_dok_leipzig_1128x752-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/kutilo_pisma_dok_leipzig_1128x752-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/kutilo_pisma_dok_leipzig_1128x752-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/kutilo_pisma_dok_leipzig_1128x752.jpg 1128w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Society<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">Society<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">Documentary about Belarusian resistance wins award at DOK Leipzig<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">November 1, Pozrik. Letters from the Silenced Country, a film by Andrej Kuci\u0142a about resistance in Belarus, was awarded the MDR prize at the DOK Leipzig documentary film festival in Germany on October 31. MDR award, established in 1995 by &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/209993\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read <\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>November 3, Pozirk. Sources in Belarus reported lengthy prison sentences, \u201cextremist\u201d designations, searches and other instances of politically motivated persecution between October 27 and November 2. Below is Pozirk\u2019s recap:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":63993,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-210217","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Numerous new cases of politically motivated persecution in Belarus | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"November 3, Pozirk. Sources in Belarus reported lengthy prison sentences, \u201cextremist\u201d designations, searches and other instances of politically motivated\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/210217\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Numerous new cases of politically motivated persecution in Belarus | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"November 3, Pozirk. Sources in Belarus reported lengthy prison sentences, \u201cextremist\u201d designations, searches and other instances of politically motivated\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/210217\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-11-03T10:13:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1128\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"752\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/210217\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/210217\/\"},\"headline\":\"Numerous new cases of politically motivated persecution in Belarus\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-03T09:51:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-11-03T10:13:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/210217\/\"},\"wordCount\":509,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/210217\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/210217\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/210217\/\",\"name\":\"Numerous new cases of politically motivated persecution in Belarus | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/210217\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/210217\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pozirk_color_blank_1128x752.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-03T09:51:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-11-03T10:13:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"November 3, Pozirk. 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