Update on arrests, trials, politically-motivated persecution

July 8, BPN. New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on July 7 with more opposition-linked content blacklisted as extremist. 

Arrests

Viciebsk police arrested an 18-year-old for tearing down the state flag and throwing it on the ground, the interior ministry’s Telegram channel reported. He is facing criminal charges of abusing state symbols.

Criminal proceedings

On July 4, a judge in Babrujsk, Mahiloŭ region, sentenced Siarhiej Frančuk to six months in prison for allegedly insulting Alaksandr Łukašenka, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. Earlier, he was given a three-year prison term on charges widely seen as politically motivated. Frančuk is a cousin of Vadzim Kabančuk, a deputy commander of the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment formed of Belarusian volunteers in Ukraine.

Former prosecutor Kanstancin Prytulenka went on trial in Mahilou on July 5, MAYDAY reported. Authorities accuse him of inciting hatred and illegal handling of personal data for allegedly sharing data of several security officers with an opposition online project. The judge closed the trial to the public.

Authorities arrested family members of Illa Dvojryn from Navapołack, Viciebsk region, who spilled paint on the car with pro-war symbols belonging to a Russian national, Viasna said. Dvojryn faces criminal charges. Police also searched the home of his son and daughter-in-law.

Detention conditions

Jailed Viktoryia Kulša was transferred to a Homiel region’s penal colony for women who repeatedly committed a criminal offense, Viasna reported. Kulša was tried twice in one year on charges of disobeying prison authorities.

Extremist list updates

On July 4, a court in Homiel blacklisted 105 websites as extremist content, including pages and social media accounts of Homiel region’s Ranak TV, the Belarusian service of Poland’s Radio Wnet and the Salidarnaść online newspaper.

Authorities also labeled as extremist the website and social media pages of Dissidentby, pages by former presidential hopeful Valer Capkała, Instagram account by the sports solidarity foundation and social media pages of Belarusian diaspora in several countries, the information ministry’s website says.

Other instances of persecution

There has been no news from jailed politician Pavieł Seviaryniec for two weeks after a court ruled to transfer him from a penal colony to a prison for the next three years, Viasna said. He is currently serving a seven-year prison term on charges widely seen as politically motivated.

Russian authorities labeled the Barys Zvozskaŭ Human Rights House as an “undesirable organization,” the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office reported.

A total of Belarusian 53 clergymen, among them 18 Orthodox, 17 Roman Catholics, 5 Greek Catholics, and 13 Protestants, have been persecuted by secular and/or church authorities in a crackdown following the 2020 presidential election, including for their antiwar statements, Chryścijanskaja Vizija said.

The Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit to liquidate the Belarusian Greens Party after rejecting its re-registration request, BPN reported.

As of July 8, human rights defenders identified at least 1,493 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.