{"id":45788,"date":"2023-02-21T12:35:14","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T09:35:14","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\/45788\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <b>February 21, <span>BPN<\/span>. <\/b>New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on February 20.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Arrests and releases\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Homiel police arrested student Alaksiej Ma\u0142acho\u016dski for online comments allegedly inciting hatred and rehabilitating Nazism, a pro-government source said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Alaksandr Mala\u016dka from the Brest region is under arrest for online comments and faces criminal charges of insulting Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka and abusing state symbols, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Police also arrested Natalla Piatrovi\u010d, 67, for comments about \u0141uka\u0161enka. She has been in custody in the \u017dodzina prison since December 2022.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities released U\u0142adzimir Seviaryn, former international secretary of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada), and his girlfriend Kaciaryna Hibkaja after both had served 18 months in prison over 2020 protests.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Criminal proceedings\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A court in Mahilo\u016d sentenced Andrej \u0160unkievi\u010d to two and a half years in prison over 2020 protests and online comments, Viasna said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Minsk City Court started hearing a case against Pavie\u0142 Bie\u0142avus, the founder and owner of the Symbal.by store selling national-themed goods. Bie\u0142avus faces criminal charges of high treason, organizing protests, calling for national security to be undermined and leading an extremist group. The judge closed the trial to the public.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities toughened Alaksiej U\u0161ako\u016d&#8217;s sentence as requested by the prosecutor, replacing his original three-year restricted freedom term in home confinement with two years in prison.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A court in the Brest region fined Viktar Makaranka, 65, a car parts shop owner, 11,100 rubels (about $3,980) for refusing to sell goods to Russian soldiers in October 2022. Authorities also revoked his business license.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Other instances of persecution\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A court in the Mahilo\u016d region ruled to transfer jailed philosopher U\u0142adzimir Mackievi\u010d, 66, from Penal Colony No. 17 to Prison No. 4 in Mahilo\u016d, <span>BPN<\/span> reported. In June 2022, authorities sentenced the prominent regime critic to five years in prison. Human rights groups consider him a political prisoner.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A court in Viciebsk ruled to end Michai\u0142 \u017dam\u010du\u017eny\u2019s post-release supervision. In 2014, he was sentenced to six and a half years in prison on three criminal charges widely seen as politically motivated. He has been under police supervision since his release in 2021.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Extremist content updates\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities blacklisted <span>EX-PRESS.BY<\/span> as extremist content for the second time, Viasna said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t As of February 21, human rights defenders identified at least 1,439 political prisoners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>February 21, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on February 20. Arrests and releases Homiel police arrested student Alaksiej Ma\u0142acho\u016dski for online comments allegedly inciting hatred and rehabilitating Nazism, a pro-government source said. Alaksandr Mala\u016dka from the Brest region is under arrest for online comments and faces criminal charges of insulting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-45788","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=\"February 21, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on February 20. 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