{"id":11520,"date":"2023-01-16T10:25:19","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T07:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/belarus-continues-its-backslide-to-stalinism\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"belarus-continues-its-backslide-to-stalinism","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarus continues its backslide to Stalinism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <span>By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n <b><span>Prominent human rights defenders, journalists and activists are on trial in Belarus as the government continues its ruthless crackdown on dissent. Prosecutors and investigators are pressing charges that are clearly far-fetched and politically motivated.<\/span><\/b>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Absurd accusations<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Several high-profile trials opened in Belarus in the last few weeks. Ale\u015b Bialacki, last year\u2019s Nobel prize laureate, and other leaders of the Viasna Human Rights Center sat handcuffed in the dock, which is quite unusual for Belarus.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Prosecutors at trials presented arguments that clearly exposed their political and even anti-Belarusian bias.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t For instance, one prosecutor accused tut.by journalists of running news stories that cast opponents of the government in a positive light and the government in a negative light. Therefore, criticism of the government and positive coverage of its opponents is already a crime in Belarus.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In the trial of Pavie\u0142 Bie\u0142avus, a prominent Belarusian language and culture advocate, the prosecutor charged that \u201cin 2011 the accused began transmitting his information to the masses to find likeminded people\u201d and \u201cdisseminated ideas of Belarusian nationalism aimed at changing state power in Belarus.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t So, it turns out that Bie\u0142avus started transmitting his information 12 years ago, but law enforcers could only detect that \u201ccrime\u201d recently.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The prosecutor sees \u201cdisseminating ideas of Belarusian nationalism\u201d as a crime, which is quite ridiculous because Belarus is still an independent nation state. The wording highlights a clear anti-Belarusian bias of the law enforcers.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Belarusians are rather encouraged by officials to disseminate Russian nationalism. Belarusian state television channels are heavily involved in promoting Russian expansion.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Finally, officials consider any ideas that the government can ever change as a crime. What is a normal election routine in democratic countries is prohibited in Belarus.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Any criticism is prohibited<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Police in Minsk on January 11 arrested former presidential candidate Andrej D\u017amitryje\u016d, who posted from time to time videos moderately critical of government policies. His TikTok account has more than 9,000 followers.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The ex-candidate also toured provinces to meet with his former associates from the outlawed \u201cTell the Truth!\u201d movement and discuss plans for a new party.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t His arrest is another landmark in the consistent degradation of the Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka regime, which does not tolerate any opposition or criticism.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Last month, police arrested teacher Ja\u016dhien Liviant, his daughter and her husband. The educator had a reputation as a critic of Belarus\u2019 education system.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Picture with Clinton is also a crime<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t The Investigative Committee pointed out that D\u017amitryje\u016d had crossed Belarus\u2019 border a total of 599 times, including 33 times&nbsp;after 2020. D\u017amitryje\u016d\u2019s contacts with westerners and the USA suggest that his political activities might be coordinated from abroad, the investigators said, noting that&nbsp;the politician \u201cwas in contact with the US Department of State and its former head Hillary Clinton.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Mrs. Clinton had met with Belarus\u2019 opposition politicians in 2010. The Belarusian law enforcers did not consider it a crime for 13 years.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Like the Soviet government, the Belarusian law enforcers see contacts with westerners as grounds for criminal prosecution.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t During the late Soviet Union period contacts with foreigners were simply discouraged, not banned. During the Joseph Stalin rule, anyone contacting a foreigner could be declared a foreign spy.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Therefore, Belarus is sliding back to the Soviet Union of the Stalin period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d Prominent human rights defenders, journalists and activists are on trial in Belarus as the government continues its ruthless crackdown on dissent. Prosecutors and investigators are pressing charges that are clearly far-fetched and politically motivated. Absurd accusations Several high-profile trials opened in Belarus in the last few weeks. Ale\u015b Bialacki, last year\u2019s Nobel [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[24],"class_list":["post-11520","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Belarus continues its backslide to Stalinism | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d Prominent human rights defenders, journalists and activists are on trial in Belarus as the government continues its ruthless\" \/>\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\/longreads\/11520\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belarus continues its backslide to Stalinism | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d Prominent human rights defenders, journalists and activists are on trial in Belarus as the government continues its ruthless\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-02-24T20:29:13+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\/longreads\/11520\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/\"},\"headline\":\"Belarus continues its backslide to Stalinism\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-16T07:25:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-24T20:29:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/\"},\"wordCount\":550,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/\",\"name\":\"Belarus continues its backslide to Stalinism | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-16T07:25:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-24T20:29:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d Prominent human rights defenders, journalists and activists are on trial in Belarus as the government continues its ruthless\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Belarus continues its backslide to Stalinism\"}]},{\"@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":"Belarus continues its backslide to Stalinism | Pozirk","description":"By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d Prominent human rights defenders, journalists and activists are on trial in Belarus as the government continues its ruthless","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\/longreads\/11520\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Belarus continues its backslide to Stalinism | Pozirk","og_description":"By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d Prominent human rights defenders, journalists and activists are on trial in Belarus as the government continues its ruthless","og_url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/","og_site_name":"Pozirk","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/","article_modified_time":"2026-02-24T20:29:13+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\/longreads\/11520\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/"},"headline":"Belarus continues its backslide to Stalinism","datePublished":"2023-01-16T07:25:19+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/"},"wordCount":550,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/","name":"Belarus continues its backslide to Stalinism | Pozirk","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-01-16T07:25:19+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13+00:00","description":"By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d Prominent human rights defenders, journalists and activists are on trial in Belarus as the government continues its ruthless","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11520\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Belarus continues its backslide to Stalinism"}]},{"@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\/longreads\/11520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/longreads"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/longreads"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"rubric","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rubric?post=11520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}