{"id":59258,"date":"2024-01-05T11:45:49","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T08:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=59258"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"update-on-arrests-trials-politically-motivated-persecution-104","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/59258\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>January 5, <em>Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on January 4 as authorities continued harassing critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arrested and released<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Police arrested Ukrainian national Oksana Volvacheva for comments about Russia&#8217;s war on Ukraine, <em>Na\u0161a Niva<\/em> reported. The woman may be deported.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maksim Kor\u0161ak was arrested in Hrodna for sharing opposition content, while a Minsk man is under arrest for alleged participation in protests, pro-government sources said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ja\u016dhien Achremienka, head of the sport and tourism department at the \u017d\u0142obin District Executive Committee in the Homiel region, was arrested in December for following opposition content, the <em>Free Zhlobin<\/em> Telegram channel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few weeks ago, two lab assistants were arrested at Belarusian State University\u2019s biology department, <em>Na\u0161a Niva<\/em> reported. Their colleagues might have informed the police that one of them had a white-red-and-white manicure and the other, a Ukrainian flag and a white-red-white toy on her desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On December 1, authorities released Michai\u0142 Kuchar\u010duk after he had served one year in prison for allegedly insulting Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, the Brest branch of the Viasna Human Rights Center said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trials<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A judge in Navapo\u0142ack, Viciebsk region, jailed Alena Vinakurava for 15 days for sharing opposition content, the <em>Vitebsk, Ya Gulayu!<\/em> Telegram channel said. In 2021, she had been fined for walking around with a bouquet of white and red roses for her daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Criminal proceedings<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Natalla Ba\u016dlina was given two and a half years of restricted freedom in home confinement in early December on charges of insulting public officials, Viasna reported. The judge also fined her 3,700 rubels (about $1,557).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pavie\u0142 Kastrykin was given a similar restricted freedom term on December 18 for participating in a protest rally in 2020, Viasna said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other instances of persecution<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Supreme Court upheld a six-year prison sentence for IT specialist Leanid Rai\u010donak from Brest, the Prosecutor General&#8217;s Office said. He was convicted for donations to Belarusian volunteers fighting Russia in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authorities transferred jailed anarchist activist Alaksandar Franckievi\u010d to Penal Colony No 11 in Va\u016dkavysk, Hrodna region, the <em>AChK-Belarus<\/em> Telegram channel said. He is serving a lengthy prison term on charges widely seen as politically motivated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of January 5, human rights defenders identified at least 1,429 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>January 5, Pozirk. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on January 4 as authorities continued harassing critics. Arrested and released Police arrested Ukrainian national Oksana Volvacheva for comments about Russia&#8217;s war on Ukraine, Na\u0161a Niva reported. The woman may be deported.&nbsp; Maksim Kor\u0161ak was arrested in Hrodna for sharing opposition content, while [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16,15],"class_list":["post-59258","articles","type-articles","status-publish","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>Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"January 5, Pozirk. 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