{"id":47224,"date":"2023-06-13T11:22:56","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T08:22:56","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\/47224\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <b>June 13, <span>BPN<\/span>.<\/b> New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on June 12 as authorities jailed local TV journalists in the Homiel region and punished people for displaying the Pahonia coat of arms.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Arrests\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Viciebsk police arrested six persons for online comments and following opposition content, a pro-government source said. In a police video, one of the arrested admitted to having a mug with the Pahonia coat of arms at her office.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The father of jailed U\u0142adzis\u0142a\u016d \u0141ahucienka was arrested in Russia presumably in connection with the 2020 protests in Belarus, MAYDAY TEAM reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A transgender woman T., assaulted by a passerby on June 9, is under arrest in Minsk for allegedly wearing a small rainbow flag and a flag of Ukraine on her backpack, <span>Tg House<\/span> reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Trials\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Employees of <span>Ranak TV<\/span>, a TV station based in the Homiel region, went on trial in Sviet\u0142ahorsk on charges of sharing opposition content, the Homiel branch of the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. Andrej Lipski, Pavie\u0142 Rabko, Vadzim Vie\u017enaviec and U\u0142adzimir Papo\u016d were jailed for seven days while Maryna By\u010dko\u016dskaja, Alena Kisialova and Kry\u015bcina Kazelkova were fined 925 rubels (over $300). Authorities released a pregnant woman and another one with a disability.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A judge in Mahilo\u016d fined human rights defender Alaksandr Chamrata\u016d 925 rubels and confiscated his smartphone for allegedly sharing opposition content, <span>Mediazona<\/span> reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t On May 24, a court in Brest fined a local resident 1,110 rubels (some $375) for a Pahonia tattoo.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Another man who refused to remove tattoos that authorities deem extremist was jailed, a pro-government Telegram channel said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A nurse was jailed in H\u0142ybokaje, Viciebsk region, for 12 days for a Pahonia image on her smartphone, the Viciebsk branch of Viasna said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Criminal proceedings\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Supreme Court will examine an appeal by jailed journalist Hienad\u017a Ma\u017eejka on June 16, <span>BPN<\/span> reported. In late March, he was given three years in prison on charges of inciting hatred and insulting Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka. Ma\u017eejka had spent 18 months in custody before the verdict was announced.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Extremist list update\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t On June 9, the interior ministry declared the independent news website <span>Zerkalo<\/span> and its social media an extremist group, <span>BPN<\/span> reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t On the same day, it also blacklisted nine persons as extremists, taking their total to 2,901. Additions include D\u017amitryj Siem\u010danka, a former journalist with the state-run <span>ONT<\/span> TV channel, and Russian national Alexander Khomchenko, sentenced to a year in prison for allegedly insulting \u0141uka\u0161enka.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Other instances of persecution\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Prosecutors in the Brest region restricted&nbsp;access to <span>flirck.com<\/span>, citing alleged violations of media law, Viasna reported. Most likely, they referred to <span>Flickr.com<\/span> photo hosting site which is still available for Belarusian users.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Last week, security officers visited the home of activist Siarhiej Hirkin and questioned his brother about his whereabouts and current occupation, Viasna reported. Hirkin has not been living in Belarus for five years. He links the police interest to his social media activities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Human rights defender Illa Mirona\u016d who recently left Belarus fearing politically-motivated persecution is currently staying in Lithuania, <span>BPN<\/span> reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t As of June 13, human rights defenders identified at least 1,493 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 13, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on June 12 as authorities jailed local TV journalists in the Homiel region and punished people for displaying the Pahonia coat of arms. Arrests Viciebsk police arrested six persons for online comments and following opposition content, a pro-government source said. In a police [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-47224","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 13, BPN. 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