{"id":45001,"date":"2022-12-21T13:02:50","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T10:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/articles\/update-on-arrests-trials-politically-motivated-persecution\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"update-on-arrests-trials-politically-motivated-persecution","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/45001\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <b>December 21, <span>BPN<\/span>.<\/b> New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on December 20.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Arrests and releases\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Riot police arrested Belarusians who were returning from Poland right at the border, the Viasna Human Rights Center said. At least 10 people were arrested on December 19 alone. Eyewitnesses said that police took people off buses for alleged participation in protests, online comments, and meetings with certain people. The scale of the arrests as well as specific charges remain unclear.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities released Homiel opposition activist Illa Mirona\u016d after 12 days in jail, <span>BPN<\/span> reported. In mid-November, authorities jailed him for five days on charges of distributing opposition content. In October, he was also sentenced to 18 months in prison and released in the courtroom as he had served his full term in pre-trial detention.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities sentenced Minsk tour guide Aksana Mankievi\u010d and Pinsk resident Dzianis Stasievi\u010d to three years of restricted freedom in home confinement each on charges of participating in protests and posting abusive online comments about a police officer, respectively, Viasna said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Former Viciebsk policeman U\u0142adzis\u0142a\u016d A\u016d\u010dynnika\u016d was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for sharing personal data online, Viasna said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Criminal proceedings\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Alaksandr Jara\u0161uk, leader of the outlawed Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, and his deputy Siarhiej Antusievi\u010d and accountant Iryna But-Husajim are on trial at the Minsk City Court, <span>BPN <\/span>reported. Authorities accuse them of participating in protests, while Jara\u0161uk is also charged with calling for sanctions.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Minsk bar owner and journalist Ivan Mura\u016djo\u016d will go on trial on December 22 for alleged association with an extremist group, Viasna said. Human rights defenders consider him a political prisoner.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t New criminal charges\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Prosecutors in Belarus opened a new criminal case against blogger Andrej Pavuk, accusing him of facilitating extremist activities in addition to the charges of desecrating state symbols, illegally handling personal data and insulting an official, <span>BPN<\/span> reported.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Appeal rejected\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Supreme Court upheld the guilty verdict against investigative journalist Dzianis Iva\u0161yn, Viasna reported. He had been sentenced to 13 years in prison and ordered to pay 22,800 rubels (about $8,795) in fines and damages to unnamed alleged victims.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Other instances of persecution\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A court in Russia ruled to extradite Or\u0161a resident Andrej Ruskich, accused of insulting Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka, Russian human rights defenders said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Prosecutors sent to court a criminal case against 15 persons accused of attacking the house of MP Aleh Hajdukievi\u010d, head of the Liberal Democratic Party, <span>BPN<\/span> reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities also started special proceedings against Ihar \u010camiakin, Dzianis Chamicevi\u010d, and Vadzim Prakopje\u016d, a former businessman and one of the founders of the Pahonia volunteer regiment in Ukraine. Prakopje\u016d faces at least 12 criminal charges linked to extremism and terrorism, <span>BPN<\/span> reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Content branded &#8220;extremist&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities blacklisted several social media accounts as extremist content, including the Instagram community of Belarusians in Austria, Viasna reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t As of December 21, human rights defenders identified at least 1,435 political prisoners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 21, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on December 20. Arrests and releases Riot police arrested Belarusians who were returning from Poland right at the border, the Viasna Human Rights Center said. At least 10 people were arrested on December 19 alone. Eyewitnesses said that police took people off buses [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-45001","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=\"December 21, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on December 20. 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New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on December 20. Arrests and releases Riot police arrested","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/45001\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk","og_description":"December 21, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on December 20. 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