{"id":47173,"date":"2023-06-08T11:45:29","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T08:45:29","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\/47173\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <b>June 8, <span>BPN<\/span>.<\/b> New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on June 7 as law enforcers continue arresting people for dissent and attaching extremism labels to online content.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Arrested and released\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Siarhiej Tatar\u010duk, a co-founder and head of Druk-S, has been under arrest since June 6, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. The reasons remain unclear.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Security officers arrested a teacher who used the Pahonia coat of arms as an avatar for a school chat, a pro-government source said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Police arrested Mikita (last name unknown), a minor from Biaroza, Brest region, and accused him of creating a Nazi group, a pro-government source said. His parents will be punished while he may be sent to a boarding school for troubled teens.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Ta\u0107ciana&nbsp;Py\u0107ko, the wife of jailed cameraman Via\u010das\u0142a\u016d \u0141azara\u016d from Viciebsk, was arrested on June 6, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reported. The children&#8217;s hospital took custody of the couple&#8217;s toddler daughter.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t At least eight people were arrested in Homiel, including Bahdan Dudko and Natalla Kiru\u0161\u010danka, <span>Na\u0161a Niva<\/span> reported. The woman is accused of following opposition content.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t On June 6, Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka pardoned Sofia Sapega, a Russian national arrested in Belarus along with an opposition blogger in 2021 and sentenced to six years in prison, <span>BPN<\/span> reported. On the next day, authorities handed her over to Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of Russia\u2019s Primorsky krai.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities released Vadzim Mika\u0142aje\u016d and Volha Kuku\u0161kina, after they had served their prison terms given in politically-motivated cases, Viasna said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Viktar \u010cara\u016dko, an associate professor of history at Po\u0142ack State University, was freed after 15 days in jail for sharing opposition content, <span>BPN<\/span> reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Criminal proceedings\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Prosecutors sent their case against jailed journalist Pavie\u0142 Padabied to the Minsk City Court accusing him of being a member of an extremist group, the BAJ reported.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Hrodna Regional Court rejected U\u0142adzimir Hundar&#8217;s appeal against his third criminal sentence given for insulting a prosecutor, <span>BPN<\/span> reported. The opposition activist with a disability is currently serving a 20-year sentence on charges widely seen as politically motivated.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A judge in Minsk sentenced Mika\u0142aj Vasilevi\u010d to six years in prison on charges of financing an extremist group and terrorist activities, Viasna said. In January, the Committee for State Security (KGB) added his name to its terrorist register.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Trials\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Human rights defender Aleh Mackievi\u010d was given 15 days in jail for sharing opposition content, the MAYDAYMog Telegram channel reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Extremist list update\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The KGB blacklisted the Rada (Council) of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR) as an extremist group, BPN reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t On June 5, a judge in Minsk declared the Belarusian-language news website <span>Na\u0161a Niva<\/span>, its logo and its YouTube and TikTok pages extremist content, the information ministry said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t New political prisoners\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Belarusian human rights groups added five convicts in a criminal case of the People\u2019s Self-Defense Units (OGSB), an alleged extremist group, to the list of political prisoners, Viasna reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Other instances of persecution\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t On June 1, authorities placed jailed Arciom \u0141aty\u0161a\u016d, sentenced to four and a half years in prison, in a punishment cell at Penal Colony No 2 in Babrujsk, Mahilo\u016d region, for the fourth consecutive time, the Viciebsk branch of Viasna said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities sent jailed activist Palina \u0160arenda-Panasiuk to a psychiatric hospital, <span>Radyjo Svaboda<\/span> reported. Earlier, she filed an official request to renounce her citizenship in protest against torture in prison. She is currently serving a three-year prison term on charges widely seen as politically motivated.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t As of June 8, human rights defenders identified at least 1,492 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>June 8, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on June 7 as law enforcers continue arresting people for dissent and attaching extremism labels to online content. Arrested and released Siarhiej Tatar\u010duk, a co-founder and head of Druk-S, has been under arrest since June 6, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-47173","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=\"June 8, BPN. 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