{"id":46794,"date":"2023-05-11T16:28:19","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T13:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/articles\/symbal-by-store-owner-gets-13-years-in-prison\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"symbal-by-store-owner-gets-13-years-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/46794\/","title":{"rendered":"Symbal.by store owner gets 13 years in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>May 11, <span>BPN.<\/span><\/b> The Minsk City Court has sentenced Pavie\u0142 Bie\u0142avus, the founder and owner of an online store selling Belarusian-themed goods associated with the opposition, to 13 years in prison, a source has told <span>BPN<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p> Judge \u017danna Brysina has also fined him 18,500 rubels (some $7,300).<\/p>\n<p> The Symbal.by owner has been found guilty of high treason, organizing protests, seeking to undermine national security and leading an extremist group. <\/p>\n<p> For a decade, his activities have been aimed at changing power by unconstitutional means, investigators said. He also disseminated \u201cthe ideas of Belarusian nationalism,\u201d they added. Foreign donors allegedly paid him $150,000, \u20ac50,000 and 40,000 zlotys.<\/p>\n<p> Bie\u0142avus has been held in pre-trial detention since 2021. His assets, worth over 50,000 rubels, have been frozen by the state.<\/p>\n<p> Human rights groups said he was persecuted for exercising his rights to freedom of assembly and expression after&nbsp;Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka&#8217;s controversial re-election in&nbsp;2020.<\/p>\n<p> His Minsk store, Symbal, sold&nbsp;hip-yet-trendy Belarusian folk-themed merchandise as well as small red-and-white flags of the country&#8217;s short-lived independent state. Authorities forced him to close it in June 2020, one month&nbsp;before the presidential poll.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dozens of people turned up at the store&nbsp;during&nbsp;fire sale days before the closure to express their support for the store owner and buy what was left in stock. Customers were dispersed by police and some were arrested.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>May 11, BPN. The Minsk City Court has sentenced Pavie\u0142 Bie\u0142avus, the founder and owner of an online store selling Belarusian-themed goods associated with the opposition, to 13 years in prison, a source has told BPN. Judge \u017danna Brysina has also fined him 18,500 rubels (some $7,300). The Symbal.by owner has been found guilty of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-46794","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>Symbal.by store owner gets 13 years in prison | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"May 11, BPN. 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