Investigators open new case against prominent rights defender Sudalenka

November 2, Pozirk. Investigators in Homiel on November 1 opened a new criminal case against Leanid Sudalenka, a prominent Belarusian human rights defender currently based abroad.

He noted on Facebook that he sees the persecution as revenge for his honest interviews about the ill-treatment of prisoners and politically-motivated reprisals.

Investigators intend to charge him with facilitating extremism under Article 361-1 of the Criminal Code.

Sudalenka was arrested in January 2021 and sentenced to three and a half years in prison later that year.

A court in Homiel found him guilty of staging and financing protests for helping protesters in the Homiel region write complaints against mistreatment and pay fines.

He left prison in July after serving his sentence in full.