{"id":47391,"date":"2023-06-24T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2023-06-24T08:00:17","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\/47391\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <b>June 24, <span>BPN<\/span>.<\/b> New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on June 23 with 66 additions to the extremism register that authorities use against regime&nbsp;critics&nbsp;and protesters.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Arrested and released\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Hrodna police arrested Anton Bie\u0142avo\u0142a\u016d for an online comment about police officers, a Telegram channel monitoring politically-motivated persecution in Hrodna and the Hrodna region reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities released Andrej Sciepanienka after he had served 18 months in prison on charges of insulting Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t New criminal cases\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A certain Eduard (last name unknown), Kazakhstan&#8217;s national originally from Belarus, faces criminal charges in Russia for an alleged arson of railway relay cabinets in Moscow, <span>BAZA <\/span>reported.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Jailed Aleh Jafremienka, currently serving a five-year prison term in a politically-motivated case, was charged with disobeying prison authorities, the Viasna Human Rights Center said. Earlier, he had been given an additional year in prison on a similar charge.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Trials\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A judge in Lozna, Viciebsk region, sentenced a local man to 15 days in jail&nbsp;for sharing opposition content and allegedly disobeying police orders.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Criminal proceedings\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Prosecutors forwarded the case against journalist \u0141arysa \u0160\u010dyrakova to court, the Prosecutor General&#8217;s Office said. She is accused of discrediting Belarus and facilitating extremism for collecting and storing information for Viasna and Poland-based <span>Belsat <\/span>TV channel.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities sentenced former prosecutor Natalla \u0141a\u0161\u010d to six years in prison on charges of inciting hatred and illegally collecting and sharing personal data, Viasna reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t A court on Hrodna sentenced Iryna Sava\u0161ynskaja and Alaksiej Pa\u016dlenka to restricted freedom terms of two years and 18 months, respectively, Sudy, Zaderzhaniya. Hrodna i Oblast Telegram channel reported. Sava\u0161ynskaja will serve her sentence in home confinement, Pa\u016dlenka, in an open-type correctional facility.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Detention conditions\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Jailed linguist Natalla Dulina was transferred to a women&#8217;s penal colony in Homiel on June 20, Viasna said. The activist&nbsp;is currently serving a three-and-a-half-year prison term on charges widely seen as politically motivated.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Other instances of persecution\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Polish minority activist An\u017ealika Arechva was denied foreign travel, she wrote on Facebook. In 2022, authorities persecuted her for sharing opposition content.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Authorities claim that the health of jailed former presidential hopeful Viktar Babaryka is &#8220;satisfactory,&#8221; his allies have said in a Telegram post. However, a knowledgeable source told <span>BPN<\/span> that Babaryka&#8217;s stroke diagnosis &#8220;can be true.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Extremism list update\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The interior ministry added 66 names to the list of &#8220;persons involved in extremist activities,&#8221; including jailed journalist Andrej Pa\u010dobut, lawyer Vital Brahiniec, and activist Pavie\u0142 Bie\u0142avus. They are currently serving lengthy prison terms in politically-motivated cases.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t As of June 24, human rights defenders identified at least 1,496 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.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>June 24, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on June 23 with 66 additions to the extremism register that authorities use against regime&nbsp;critics&nbsp;and protesters.&nbsp; Arrested and released Hrodna police arrested Anton Bie\u0142avo\u0142a\u016d for an online comment about police officers, a Telegram channel monitoring politically-motivated persecution in Hrodna and the Hrodna region [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-47391","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 24, BPN. 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