{"id":68600,"date":"2024-02-21T12:10:45","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T09:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=68600"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"update-on-politically-motivated-persecution-3","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/68600\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on politically-motivated persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>February 20,&nbsp;Pozirk.<\/strong>&nbsp;Politically-motivated reprisals were documented on February 20, including the death of a prominent political prisoner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trials, sentences for minor offenses<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Former political prisoner Andrej Kudzik is serving a 15-day jail sentence, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is held at a detention center in Vilejka, Minsk region. It is unclear what he has been convicted of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this month, the Ma\u0142adzie\u010dna District Court labeled his TikTok account&nbsp;as extremist content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In February 2022, Kudzik was sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly breaking Article 342 of the Criminal Code carrying punishment for gross public order violations. He was released on July 18, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A judge in Or\u0161a, Viciebsk region, imposed heavy fines on Dzianis Siarhieje\u016d, a political prisoner, and the wife of Arciom La\u0161nie\u016dski, an opposition activist serving a 2.5-year restricted freedom term at an open-type correctional institution, for receiving food parcels from INeedHelpBY, a solidarity group declared extremist by authorities, Viasna and <em>Vitebsk, Ya Gulyayu<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Criminal trials<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Brest Regional Court might have sentenced Alaksandar Sysoje\u016d, an IT professional, to five years in prison for a donation of $12.91 to the Kastu\u015b Kalino\u016dski Regiment fighting alongside Ukrainian forces against Russia. The prosecutor demanded a five-year sentence, but the ruling is unknown yet, the Brest branch of Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Death of political prisoner<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ihar Lednik, an activist of the outlawed Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada), died of heart failure at prison hospital at 63.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His death brings the death toll of Belarusian political prisoners to five. Vadzim Chra\u015bko died at a penal colony in January 2024. Vitold A\u0161urak died in May 2022; Mika\u0142aj Klimovi\u010d, in May 2023; and artist Ale\u015b Pu\u0161kin, in July 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alaksandar Mancevi\u010d, editor of <em>Rehijanalnaja Hazeta<\/em>, has been transferred to Penal Colony No. 5 in Ivacevi\u010dy, Brest region, to serve his four-year sentence given for allegedly discrediting Belarus, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ja\u016dhien H\u0142u\u0161ko\u016d, a Mahilo\u016d-based cameraman, faces extremism-related charges for cooperation with <em>6TV.by<\/em>, a local news website declared extremist, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The prison administration refused to take clothes and medicines for Miko\u0142a Statkievi\u010d, an opposition politician serving a 14-year prison sentence, said his wife, Maryna Adamovi\u010d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On February 20, rights groups had information on 1,423 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>February 20,&nbsp;Pozirk.&nbsp;Politically-motivated reprisals were documented on February 20, including the death of a prominent political prisoner. Trials, sentences for minor offenses Former political prisoner Andrej Kudzik is serving a 15-day jail sentence, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. He is held at a detention center in Vilejka, Minsk region. It is unclear what he has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[14,13],"class_list":["post-68600","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 politically-motivated persecution | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"February 20,&nbsp;Pozirk.&nbsp;Politically-motivated reprisals were documented on February 20, including the death of a prominent political prisoner.\" \/>\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\/68600\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Update on 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