{"id":94148,"date":"2024-07-05T17:50:46","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T14:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/94148\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"seventeen-labeled-as-political-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/94148\/","title":{"rendered":"Seventeen labeled as political prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (pixabay.com)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

July 5, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Belarusian human rights groups have designated 17 more people as political prisoners, according to a joint statement on the Viasna Human Rights Center website. Their charges ranged from violent disorder to insulting officials and defaming the head of state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The status was granted to D\u017amitryj Puzika\u016d (six months in a penal colony), Darja Zajac (a year in a penal colony) and Valeryja Drahun (a year in a penal colony).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The groups also named Dzianis Siemianichin (a year in a penal colony), Andrej Karalo\u016d (two years in a penal colony), Alena Dubro\u016dskaja (a year and a half in a penal colony) and Juryj Jur\u010duk (an unknown period in an open-type corrective institution).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The others were Alena Karpienka (a year and a half in a penal colony), Ivan Dziarnovi\u010d (four years in a penal colony) and Ta\u0107ciana Makiejeva (taken into custody).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The human rights defenders also designated several people sent to a psychiatric hospital for compulsory treatment for alleged defamation: former film director Rus\u0142an Zholi\u010d, D\u017amitryj Si\u016dko, Alaksandar Ciupa, Ivan Mik\u0161a and Alaksandar Syryca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The groups consider the persecution and imprisonment of all these people to be politically motivated and related to the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They call on the Belarusian government to decriminalize defamation and repeal the Criminal Code articles carrying punishment for insulting the state, its symbols and public officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total of 1,423 people are currently serving politically-motivated sentences in Belarus, according to rights activists. Tens of thousands have suffered various forms of reprisals since the disputed presidential election of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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