{"id":57741,"date":"2023-12-27T13:07:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-27T10:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=57741"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"reprisals-human-rights-abuse-systemic-in-2023-rights-defender","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals, human rights abuse systemic in 2023 \u2013 rights defender"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>December 27, <em>Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Politically-motivated reprisals in Belarus continued unabated this year while human rights violations became systemic, Pavie\u0142 Sapie\u0142ka of the Viasna Human Rights Center told <em>Pozirk<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The number of people persecuted in politically-motivated criminal cases rose from 650 in late 2020 to 5,200 in November 2023, he noted, citing data from Viasna only. The most common charges included gross violations of public order, inciting hatred and insulting Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka and public officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2023, authorities started relying more on &#8220;anti-extremist&#8221; legislation to persecute dissenters which &#8220;significantly expanded&#8221; their repressive capabilities, Sapie\u0142ka said. Ill-treatment and torture in prisons persisted, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The human rights defender also noted amendments adopted in March expanded the use of the death penalty for high treason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier amendments allow for the use of death penalty to punish people involved in plotting terrorist acts, but judges have not yet sentenced anyone to death, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Police posted video of brutal arrests to stoke fear in society, but carefully concealed officers\u2019 identities, he stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Human rights groups work hard to record crimes and human rights abuse committed by law enforcers and identify the perpetrators, Sapie\u0142ka said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 27, Pozirk. Politically-motivated reprisals in Belarus continued unabated this year while human rights violations became systemic, Pavie\u0142 Sapie\u0142ka of the Viasna Human Rights Center told Pozirk.&nbsp; The number of people persecuted in politically-motivated criminal cases rose from 650 in late 2020 to 5,200 in November 2023, he noted, citing data from Viasna only. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":58412,"template":"","rubric":[14,13],"class_list":["post-57741","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics","rubric-society"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Reprisals, human rights abuse systemic in 2023 \u2013 rights defender | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"December 27, Pozirk. Politically-motivated reprisals in Belarus continued unabated this year while human rights violations became systemic, Pavie\u0142\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reprisals, human rights abuse systemic in 2023 \u2013 rights defender | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 27, Pozirk. Politically-motivated reprisals in Belarus continued unabated this year while human rights violations became systemic, Pavie\u0142\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/sapelko-FB-201-e1703931076998.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/\"},\"headline\":\"Reprisals, human rights abuse systemic in 2023 \u2013 rights defender\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-27T10:07:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/\"},\"wordCount\":196,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/sapelko-FB-201-e1703931076998.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/\",\"name\":\"Reprisals, human rights abuse systemic in 2023 \u2013 rights defender | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/sapelko-FB-201-e1703931076998.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-27T10:07:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"December 27, Pozirk. Politically-motivated reprisals in Belarus continued unabated this year while human rights violations became systemic, Pavie\u0142\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/sapelko-FB-201-e1703931076998.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/sapelko-FB-201-e1703931076998.jpg\",\"width\":1370,\"height\":1370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reprisals, human rights abuse systemic in 2023 \u2013 rights defender\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Pozirk\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Pozirk\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Pozirk\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Pozirk_online\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reprisals, human rights abuse systemic in 2023 \u2013 rights defender | Pozirk","description":"December 27, Pozirk. Politically-motivated reprisals in Belarus continued unabated this year while human rights violations became systemic, Pavie\u0142","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/57741\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reprisals, human rights abuse systemic in 2023 \u2013 rights defender | Pozirk","og_description":"December 27, Pozirk. 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