{"id":45081,"date":"2022-12-27T10:42:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-27T07:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/articles\/update-on-trials-and-politically-motivated-persecution\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"update-on-trials-and-politically-motivated-persecution","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/45081\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on trials and politically-motivated persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <b>December 27,&nbsp;<span>BPN<\/span>.&nbsp;<\/b>New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on December 26.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Arrests\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Police arrested at least 12 people in Minsk from December 23 to 26 for unknown reasons, including U\u0142adzimir Alisievi\u010d, U\u0142adzimir A\u0142uf, Arciom Bohdan, Nikita But-Husaim, U\u0142adzimir Vidahold, Juryj Davydzienka, Pave\u0142 Dziatko, Alena Ka\u016dzunovi\u010d, Ihar Karolik, D\u017amitry Lapacin, Alaksandr \u0141ohvina\u016d and Alaksej Majsienia, Spiski Zaderzhannykh (Lists of Detainees), a group of human rights volunteers, reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Police in Minsk arrested U\u0142adzis\u0142a\u016d \u010cachovi\u010d, a prominent blogger and Wikipedia editor. The law enforcers released a video of his interrogation, in which he said that he is in opposition to the government and supports Ukraine, pro-government Telegram channels reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Officers of the Main Directorate for Fighting Organized Crime and Corruption arrested siblings Michai\u0142&nbsp;and Alaksandra Razuvana\u016d for alleged participation in 2020 protests, Viasna reported. They might face criminal charges.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Trials\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The S\u0142onim District Court, Hrodna region, sentenced local journalist, writer and historian Siarhiej \u010cyhryn to 15 days in jail, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reported. The 64-year-old former <span>Gazeta Slonimskaya<\/span> journalist was expected to be released on December 23 after serving a seven-day term for dissemination of \u201cextremist\u201d content. Instead, he was convicted of the same offense and given a longer term. The S\u0142onim Drama Theater sacked \u010cyhryn as head of its literary department three days after his arrest.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Minsk City Court handed down prison sentences on two prominent Belarusian athletes living abroad, trade union leaders, a former investigator and a journalist, Viasna reported. Judge \u015aviat\u0142ana Bandarenka sentenced two founders of the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation to 12 years in prison without the defendants being present at the trial. She found three-time Olympic medalist Alaksandra Hierasimenia and handball club Vityaz Leon former director Alaksandr Apiejkin guilty of calling for sanctions to be imposed on Belarus.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In another trial, the same court imposed prison sentences on leaders of the outlawed Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions. Chairman Alaksandr Jara\u0161uk was sentenced to four years in prison; his deputy Siarhiej Antusievi\u010d, to two years; and accountant Iryna But-Husajim, to 18 months. All three were found guilty of organization of\/active participation in group actions grossly disturbing public order in connection with protests that followed the 2020 presidential election. Jara\u0161uk, who had repeatedly and publicly criticized the Western policy of sanctions, was also convicted of calling for sanctions.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Minsk City Court also sentenced former investigator Ja\u016dhien Ju\u0161kievi\u010d to 11 years in a high-security prison, Prosecutor General&#8217;s Office reported. The judge found him guilty of participating in protests, inciting hatred and disobeying police orders. Prosecutors also accused Ju\u0161kievi\u010d of being a regular contributor to an opposition Telegram channel blacklisted as extremist.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Minsk City Court has sentenced cameraman and photographer Ivan Mura\u016djo\u016d to two and a half years in prison, the BAJ reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Protesters freed\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t U\u0142adzimir Talatynnik and Vital Lytvin, sentenced in connection with a mass protest that took place in downtown Brest in 2020, were freed in mid-November and early December after fully serving their sentences at an open-type correctional facility, Viasna&#8217;s&nbsp;Brest branch said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Prisoners in punishment cell\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Homiel\u2019s Detention Center No. 3 placed Ja\u016dhien Merkis, a prominent journalist in detention since September 13 on suspicion of facilitating extremism, in a punishment cell for four days, <span>\u0160todzie\u0144<\/span> reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The administration of Penal Colony No. 11 in Va\u016dkavysk transferred Siarhiej Ramana\u016d, an opposition activist serving a 20-year prison term, to the internal prison, the <span>Pravo na Vosstaniye<\/span> Telegram channel reported. He had spent one month in the internal prison in September.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Human rights defenders updated their list of political prisoners in the afternoon of December 26. It contained 1,439 names. However, human rights advocates admit that many political reprisals remain undocumented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 27,&nbsp;BPN.&nbsp;New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on December 26. Arrests Police arrested at least 12 people in Minsk from December 23 to 26 for unknown reasons, including U\u0142adzimir Alisievi\u010d, U\u0142adzimir A\u0142uf, Arciom Bohdan, Nikita But-Husaim, U\u0142adzimir Vidahold, Juryj Davydzienka, Pave\u0142 Dziatko, Alena Ka\u016dzunovi\u010d, Ihar Karolik, D\u017amitry Lapacin, Alaksandr \u0141ohvina\u016d and Alaksej [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-45081","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 trials and politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"December 27,&nbsp;BPN.&nbsp;New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on December 26. 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