{"id":98527,"date":"2024-08-01T12:07:43","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T09:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/98527\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"reprisals-2020-protesters-dissenters-journalists-in-focus","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/98527\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: 2020 protesters, dissenters, journalists in focus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

August 1, Pozirk<\/em>. <\/strong>New instances of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on July 31 with unabated reprisals targeting 2020 protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police arrested Minsk chef Alaksiej \u0160elest, forcing him to admit to participating in 2020 postelection protests, posting government-critical comments and sharing interior ministry employee’s data with an opposition project, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brest police arrested a kitchen appliances plant worker for alleged participation in 2020 protests, a pro-government source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viasna\u2019s rights defenders also reported several trials on protest-related charges: Danii\u0142 Dzemidzienka is tried in \u017d\u0142obin, Homiel region; D\u017amitryj H\u0142u\u0161\u010danka and Andrej Karpovi\u010d, in Hrodna. H\u0142u\u0161\u010danka, an IT professional, was arrested in early May upon his return from Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online content<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ihar Karpovi\u010d, Viktar Bahalej\u0161a, Juryj \u0141akatun and Alaksiej Sabale\u016dski were tried in the Hrodna region for sharing opposition content; Nina Si\u0144kievi\u010d, for violating the order of holding mass events, the Pravo Imeyut <\/em>Telegram channel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahilo\u016d businessman Siarhiej Rad\u017ako\u016d is under arrest for signing up for the opposition Pieramoha Plan, Viasna said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities branded torturesbelarus2020.org<\/em>, the website of the International Committee for Investigation of Torture in Belarus, as extremist, the information ministry’s website said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other blacklisted content includes Instagram pages by dissident athletes Artur Udrus and Alena Le\u016d\u010danka, a documentary about anti-Soviet resistance in Belarus after the Second World War, several Ukrainian Telegram channels as well as dozens of religious videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Persecution of journalists<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A judge in Mahilo\u016d sentenced former freelance journalists Ja\u016dhien Hlu\u0161ko\u016d and Alaksandar Sabale\u016dski to three and four years in prison, respectively, on extremism-related charges, MAYDAY.TEAM reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia\u2019s interior ministry put Stanis\u0142a\u016d Iva\u0161kievi\u010d, the founder and head of the Belarusian Investigative Center, and affiliated TV host Siarhiej \u010ca\u0142y on its wanted list, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other cases<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maksim Remieza\u016d went on trial in Minsk for financing extremism in connection with donations to opposition solidarity groups, Na\u0161a Niva<\/em> reported. Authorities also accuse him of participating in an armed conflict abroad, which may be connected to his support of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vital Sa\u016dko, presumably an ex-prosecutor from the Hrodna region, is accused of inciting hatred and is on trial in Brest, Viasna said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opposition activist Palina \u0160arenda-Panasiuk is held at a detention center in Homiel after her transfer from Minsk, where authorities forced her to undergo the fourth mental health test, her husband Andrej \u0160arenda said on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, authorities released at least 43 political prisoners: 20 of them had served their sentences in full, 18 were either amnestied or exchanged, while four others were transferred from prisons to restricted freedom in home confinement, Viasna said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, rights groups added Siarhiej \u0141a\u0161\u010danka, Stanis\u0142a\u016d \u0160vajko\u016dski, Siarhiej Charytanovi\u010d, Ihar Miezin, U\u0142adzimir Nikicin and Neli A\u0142fiorava to the political prisoners’ list, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of August 1, human rights defenders listed at least 1,392 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\n\n\n

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