Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution

May 9, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on May 6-8.

Arrests

The Viasna center and pro-government Telegram channels reported that law enforcers arrested Uładzisłaŭ Abrazcoŭ, 22, for having tattoos with Pahonia, a former Belarusian coat of arms, and Tryzub, the coat of arms of Ukraine.

Natalla Žłoba, the Minsk State Linguistic University’s senior lecturer arrested in late March, is being held in detention pending investigation. The exact charges against her are unclear, but the case is “political,” Naša Niva wrote.

Trials

A court in Homiel sentenced local radio editor Siarhiej Krasnabarod to 15 days in jail for disseminating extremist content. He and his fellow radio workers, hosts Žanna Minina and Anastasija Hrycenka as well as sound director Arciom Vasilkoŭ, were arrested on May 5.
The hosts and the sound director were also held accountable for extremist content, the legal euphemism for dissident articles. Their verdicts remain unknown, Viasna reported.

The Minsk City Court sentenced artist Hienadź Drazdoŭ, a former head of the Pahonia creative union, to three years’ imprisonment. Judge Jaŭhien Pisarevič found him guilty of extremism and public order offences.

On May 10, the Vaŭkavysk District Court, Hrodna region, will hear the case of Źmicier Łazar, charged with insulting a judge. Viasna pointed that on March 2, a court in another region had sentenced him to two-and-a-half years’ imprisonment and a fine of 3,700 rubels (some $1,500) for insulting a judge, a state official and Head of State. Human rights defenderes said the father of six was persecuted for political reasons.

Uładzimir Bułaŭski, an art manager and musician, will go on trial in Viciebsk on May 15. Viasna reports that he is charged with repeatedly violating the procedure for organizing mass events. Belarusian human rights groups declared Bułaŭski, in custody since December 14, a political prisoner.

New criminal cases

Mikałaj Zajac, formerly a press secretary at the Janka Kupała National Theatre, may have been charged with high treason. According to former inmates who had shared a cell with him, the man was interrogated on suspicion of committing that particular crime. Zajac was arrested on March 13 and given several consecutive jail terms, Zerkalo wrote.

Prison conditions

Mikałaj Klimovič, 61, an opposition activist and blogger, died in Penal Colony No 3 in Vićba, Viciebsk region. The prison authorities informed his family of the death in a phone call on May 7. The circumstances remain unknown. On February 28, the Pinsk City and District Court sentenced Klimovič to one year for “insulting” Alaksandr Łukašenka with an online caricature. The activist was in poor health after a heart operation and a stroke, but that did not prevent the imprisonment.

Dźmitryju Ravič, Dzianis Dzikun and Aleh Małčanaŭ, the jailed “railway partisans” from Śvietłahorsk, Homiel region, were transferred to penal colonies, Viasna reported. On March 31, the Supreme Court upheld the sentence handed to them last December, when they were found guilty of an arson attack on the railway’s relay cabinet and membership in an extremist group. Their trial lasted three months and resulted in 22 years’ imprisonment for Ravič, 23 years for Dzikun and 21 years for Małčanaŭ.

Release

Ihar Bortnik, PhD, a staff member of Połack’s history and culture museum, was released on May 6. He served three consecutive jail terms, a total of 38 days, for violating the procedure for organizing mass events. Bortnik had been arrested along with other current and former employees of the museum on March 29.

A penal colony in Homiel released Łarysa Kuźmienka after she had served her sentence in full, Viasna Homiel reported. She was arrested in August 2021 and jailed for threatening violence towards a police officer (by “forcefully” grabbing their hand) during a crackdown on protests one year earlier.

Human rights defenders identified at least 1,493 political prisoners as of today.