{"id":101903,"date":"2024-08-24T10:23:13","date_gmt":"2024-08-24T07:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/101903\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"reprisals-jailed-regime-critics-under-pressure","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/101903\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: jailed regime critics under pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

August 24, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus on August 23 as authorities kept harassing jailed opponents despite the ongoing pardon program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blogger U\u0142adzimir Cyhanovi\u010d, serving a 15-year prison term in a politically-motivated case, will go on a new trial on September 5, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities accuse him of disobeying the prison administration’s orders, a charge often used to pressure regime critics and keep them in prison longer. Jailed antifascist activist Cimur Pipija will be tried on the same day on similar charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U\u0142adzimir Hundar, jailed 64-year-old with a disability serving a 20-year prison term, was deprived of food parcels until March 2025, Radyjo Svaboda<\/em> reported. The reason remains unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrested and released<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bartender from Kobryn, Brest region, presumably Ihar \u010ceb, and a Brest couple are under arrest for participating in 2020 postelection protests, according to a pro-government Telegram channel and Viasna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities pardoned Pavie\u0142 Ku\u010dynski, a 29-year-old political prisoner diagnosed with cancer, rights defender Alaksandar Kapucki saind on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Belarus 1<\/em> TV host D\u017amitryj \u0141uk\u0161a and his wife Palina Pa\u0142avinka were released a few weeks earlier on pardon, Na\u0161a Niva<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online content<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elvira Kony\u0161ava, Aksana \u0160ymanovi\u010d, Alaksandar Hapon, Mika\u0142a\u0142 \u0160amaryn, Tac\u0107iana Uruble\u016dskaja and \u015aviat\u0142ana Dubro\u016dskaaja were tried for sharing opposition content, the Vitebsk, Ya Gulayu!<\/em> and Pravo Imeyut<\/em> Telegram channels said. The sentences remain unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Committee for State Security (KGB) branded the \u017dyvie! <\/em>Telegram and YouTube channels with a total of more than 13,000 followers as extremist content, the interior ministry said. Authorities also blacklisted the Office for European Expertise and Communication non-profit’s website and social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities blocked access to povestka.pro<\/em>, a website that allegedly shares information about draft evasion, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other cases<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interior ministry added 28 more people to its list of \u201cpersons involved in extremist activities,\u201d taking the total of entries to 4,353.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A judge in Hlusk, Mahilo\u016d region, ruled to place a 15-year-old girl in a special school for delinquents for two years for posting online a video that allegedly insulted a police officer, MAYDAY TEAM reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights defenders designated seven more people as political prisoners, Viasna reported. Five of them await trials in custody, while two have already been sentenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of August 24, human rights defenders identified at least 1,377 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian authorities have arrested about 65,000 people for political reasons in the four years since the August 2020 presidential election, Viasna reported in early August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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