{"id":3658,"date":"2023-10-03T11:53:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T08:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=3658"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"update-on-arrests-trials-politically-motivated-persecution-32","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/3658\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>October 3,\u00a0<em>Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong>\u00a0New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus between September 30 and October 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arrested and released<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Riot police arrested a man in Homiel for allegedly writing insulting comments about Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, public officials and police officers, a pro-government Telegram channel said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On September 28, police arrested seven men working for a public utilities company in Lida, Hrodna region, over the government-critical online comments, a Telegram channel monitoring politically-motivated persecution in Lida reported. Earlier, the company fired four employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several staff members of&nbsp;another Lida-based company were arrested for sharing opposition content, the same channel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A man&nbsp;is under arrest in Salihorsk, Minsk region, for allegedly contacting Belarusian volunteers fighting Russia in Ukraine,&nbsp;<em>Mediazona&nbsp;<\/em>reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authorities released Ja\u016dhien Charjana\u016d&nbsp;and Mika\u0142aj Zavadski after both had served two-year prison sentences passed in connection with the protests, the&nbsp;<em>Svobodny Zhlobin<\/em>&nbsp;Telegram channel reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trials<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A judge in Barysa\u016d, Minsk region, jailed poet U\u0142adzimir Ta\u0142ka\u010d, 70, for 10 days over pictures on his smartphone, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On September 15, a judge in Bie\u0161ankovi\u010dy, Viciebsk region, fined Mika\u0142aj Bondar 740 rubels (over $220) for allegedly deviating from a religious&nbsp;procession route approved by the local government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Criminal proceedings<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Opposition activist Palina \u0160arenda-Panasiuk who is currently serving a three-year prison term went on a new trial in Re\u010dyca, Homiel region, on charges of disobeying the prison administration, the Homiel branch of Viasna said.&nbsp; At the trial, she complained of being beaten in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On August 3, a judge in Minsk sentenced Siarhiej Ka\u010duk to five years of restricted freedom in home confinement and fined him 7,400 rubels ($2,240) for online comments allegedly insulting police officers that he had posed&nbsp;between August 2020 and February 2022, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other instances of persecution<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authorities transferred jailed journalist \u0141arysa \u0160\u010dyrakova to Homel&#8217;s Penal Colony No 4 where she is to serve her three-and-a-half-year prison sentence, the Homiel branch of Viasna said. She was convicted of&nbsp;extremism-related offenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Investigative Committee reported that a new special-procedure case was opened against Vadzim Prakopje\u016d, co-founder of the Belarusian volunteer regiment Pahonia and former restaurateur, for his alleged involvement in &#8220;terrorist activities.&#8221; In June 2023, authorities had already sentenced Prakopje\u016d to 25 years in prison in an arson case, without the defendant being present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jailed anarchist activist D\u017amitryj Rezanovi\u010d, sentenced to 19 years in prison, was transferred to the penal colony&#8217;s internal prison, the&nbsp;<em>Pravo na Vosstaniye<\/em>&nbsp;Telegram channel reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Prosecutor General&#8217;s Office filed a total of seven criminal charges against the leaders and members of the Rada of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR), Belarus&#8217; oldest government in exile,\u00a0<em>Pozirk<\/em>\u00a0reported. Charges range from discrediting the state to conspiracy to seize the state power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jailed Alaksiej Iljin\u010dyk, sentenced to two and a half years in prison on charges widely seen as politically motivated, was hospitalized, Viasna said. He suffered a stroke before&nbsp;the trial. His right arm hardly moves and he has speech impairment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of October 3, human rights defenders identified at least 1,490 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented. Opposition sources estimate the number of political prisoners at around 5,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>October 3,\u00a0Pozirk.\u00a0New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus between September 30 and October 2. Arrested and released Riot police arrested a man in Homiel for allegedly writing insulting comments about Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, public officials and police officers, a pro-government Telegram channel said.&nbsp; On September 28, police arrested seven men working for a public [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-3658","articles","type-articles","status-publish","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>Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"October 3,\u00a0Pozirk.\u00a0New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus between September 30 and October 2. 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