{"id":47644,"date":"2023-07-15T12:25:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-15T09:25:01","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\/47644\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>July 15, <span>BPN.<\/span> <\/b>New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on July 14.<\/p>\n<p> Arrests<\/p>\n<p> Authorities in Minsk arrested a businessman for the Pahonia coat of arms on his license plate, calling it &#8220;demonstration of forbidden symbols on a personal car,&#8221; according to Viasna.<\/p>\n<p> Law enforcers in Hrodna arrested an employee of a transport company at his workplace. He allegedly wrote 700 comments insulting Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, regional leaders, and police, according to a pro-government Telegram channel.<\/p>\n<p> Trials<\/p>\n<p> A state prosecutor asked a judge in Hrodna to sentence journalist Pavie\u0142 Ma\u017eejka and lawyer Julija Jurhilevi\u010d to six years in prison each, <span>Belsat TV<\/span> reported.<\/p>\n<p> Political prisoner Viktar Za\u0142atare\u016dski went on trial in the Homiel Regional Court on extremism charges, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n<p> Polish national Robert T\u0105pa\u0142a was sentenced to three years in prison for insulting Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka and state officials, Viasna reported. He has already been transferred to a penal colony in Navapo\u0142ack, Viciebsk region.<\/p>\n<p> On July 10, a district court in the Homiel region sentenced a Mahilo\u016d man, D\u017amitryj Papko\u016d, to two years in prison for libeling and insulting \u0141uka\u0161enka, Mayday Team reported.<\/p>\n<p> Extremism list<\/p>\n<p> Authorities blacklisted exiled opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja, her ally Pavie\u0142 \u0141atu\u0161ka and 30 others as extremists. A Minsk court sentenced Cichano\u016dskaja to 15 years and \u0141atu\u0161ka to 18 years in prison after a trial in absentia in March. The other additions included three members of a coordination council that sought a dialogue with the \u0141uka\u0161enka regime to end the post-election political crisis. Maryja Maroz, Siarhiej Dyle\u016dski and Volha Kavalkova were tried in absentia and sentenced to 12 years each.<\/p>\n<p> Other incidents<\/p>\n<p> Palina \u0160arenda-Panasiuk, who is serving a three-year prison sentence, has lost about 18 kilograms of weight over the past two and a half years behind bars, according to her husband Andrej \u0160arenda. She is 170 cm tall and now weighs 47.5 kg.<\/p>\n<p>As of July 15, human rights defenders identified at least 1,479 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>July 15, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on July 14. Arrests Authorities in Minsk arrested a businessman for the Pahonia coat of arms on his license plate, calling it &#8220;demonstration of forbidden symbols on a personal car,&#8221; according to Viasna. Law enforcers in Hrodna arrested an employee of a transport [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-47644","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=\"July 15, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on July 14. 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