Rights groups declare five political prisoners

May 4, BPN. Belarusian human rights groups have labeled five more people as political prisoners.

They are: Andrej Baranaŭ, Anton Ohij, Uładzislaŭ Papoŭ, Viktoryja Haŭrylina and Arciom Labiedźka.

They were persecuted for donations to political causes or contributions to independent media, which judges interpreted as extremism.

Interior and security forces arbitrarily label media and dissident groups as extremist, causing unjustified detention of their members and sources, the groups said in a statement.

They demanded that these and other prisoners be immediately released.

The statement has been signed by the Viasna center, Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), Belarusian PEN, Human Constanta, Barys Zvozskaŭ Human Rights House, Lawtrend and Pravavaja Inicyjatyva.

Human rights defenders identified at least 1,499 political prisoners as of this evening.