{"id":61939,"date":"2024-01-19T12:34:54","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T09:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=61939"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"update-on-arrests-trials-politically-motivated-persecution-115","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>January 19, <em>Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on January 18 as authorities kept punishing and harassing 2020 protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arrests<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Police arrested Jahor Klimovi\u010d over comments to Russian politician Alexei Navalny&#8217;s channel in 2020, pro-government sources said. In a police video, Klimovi\u010d admitted to resisting police orders. The exact charges against him are unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A man from Hrodna was arrested for sharing opposition content, participating in protests and signing up for the opposition Pieramoha Plan, pro-government sources said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trials<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A judge in Viciebsk convicted artist Natalla Dziam\u0161ova for sharing opposition content, the <em>Vitebsk, Ya Gulayu!<\/em> Telegram channel reported.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Hrodna, two men were given seven days in jail each for sharing opposition content, the Pravo Imeyut initiative said. A man was fined 1,200 (about $380) rubels in Smarho\u0144, Hrodna region, on similar charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Criminal proceedings<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Supreme Court upheld lengthy prison terms for the Tor Band musicians, <em>Pozirk<\/em> reported. In late October, frontman D\u017amitryj Ha\u0142ava\u010d, drummer Ja\u016dhien Bur\u0142o and bass guitarist Andrej Jarem\u010dyk were given nine, eight and seven and a half years in prison, respectively, on charges widely seen as politically motivated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In late December, a judge in Minsk sentenced U\u0142adzis\u0142a\u016d \u0141ahojka to two and a half years of restricted freedom in home confinement for participating in a 2020 protest rally, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. Vital Pupin from Fanipal, Minsk region, was given the same term on similar charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In early October, Mika\u0142aj Samachva\u0142 was given one year of restricted freedom in home confinement on charges of insulting Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, Viasna said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Political prisoners update<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Belarusian human rights groups declared former journalist Ale\u015b Sabale\u016dski a political prisoner, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Extremist&#8221; and &#8220;terrorist&#8221; list updates<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authorities branded several Telegram channels as &#8220;extremist&#8221; content, among them <em>Smolenskaya Respublika<\/em>, <em>Dom Tvorca\u016d<\/em>, <em>Partyzanka INFO<\/em>, BYSOL: <em>Vyyezd i Evakuaciya<\/em>, the information ministry said. Other blacklisted content includes the Instagram pages <em>vote. belarus<\/em>, <em>bsdpbrest<\/em>, <em>Novy Kanal<\/em>; the <em>Bulbamovie<\/em> Facebook account; the <em>Belarusian Truth<\/em> Odnoklassniki page; <em>History_bel_zxv<\/em>, <em>Volny Ruch<\/em>, <em>Patryjot Bie\u0142arusi<\/em>, and <em>uabnovuslt<\/em> on TikTok; as well as <em>bgmedia.site<\/em> and several YouTube channels by independent local media outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Committee for State Security (KGB) added Vital Kor\u0161un, Viktar Barkiet, Alaksandar Piele\u0161 and D\u017amitryj Hut to the list of &#8220;individuals involved in terrorist activities,&#8221; Viasna reported. All were charged with inciting hatred. Hut has already been convicted. Rights groups consider Kor\u0161un a political prisoner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other instances of persecution<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Justice ministry disbarred Natalla Kanoda and Ihar Ry\u017ey over &#8220;insufficient qualifications&#8221; and postponed Maryna Isa\u010denka&#8217;s certification tests for six months. Kanoda was a defense attorney for lawyer Andrej Ma\u010da\u0142a\u016d, persecuted in Belarus on charges widely seen as politically motivated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lawyers \u015aviat\u0142ana Biry\u0142ava, Anton Navicki and Alaksiej Saka\u0142o\u016d may also be disbarred for similar reasons. Biry\u0142ava reportedly defended people accused in politically-motivated cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of January 19, human rights defenders identified at least 1,410 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 19, Pozirk. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on January 18 as authorities kept punishing and harassing 2020 protesters. Arrests Police arrested Jahor Klimovi\u010d over comments to Russian politician Alexei Navalny&#8217;s channel in 2020, pro-government sources said. In a police video, Klimovi\u010d admitted to resisting police orders. The exact charges against [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16,15],"class_list":["post-61939","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 19, Pozirk. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on January 18 as authorities kept punishing and harassing\" \/>\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\/61939\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"January 19, Pozirk. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on January 18 as authorities kept punishing and harassing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/\" \/>\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 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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/\"},\"headline\":\"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-19T09:34:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/\"},\"wordCount\":521,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/\",\"name\":\"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-19T09:34:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"January 19, Pozirk. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on January 18 as authorities kept punishing and harassing\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution\"}]},{\"@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":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk","description":"January 19, Pozirk. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on January 18 as authorities kept punishing and harassing","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\/61939\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk","og_description":"January 19, Pozirk. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on January 18 as authorities kept punishing and harassing","og_url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/","og_site_name":"Pozirk","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/","article_modified_time":"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Pozirk_online","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/"},"headline":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution","datePublished":"2024-01-19T09:34:54+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/"},"wordCount":521,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/","name":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-01-19T09:34:54+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49+00:00","description":"January 19, Pozirk. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on January 18 as authorities kept punishing and harassing","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/61939\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution"}]},{"@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"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/61939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"rubric","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rubric?post=61939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}