{"id":109102,"date":"2024-10-12T23:45:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-12T20:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/109102\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"reprisals-former-presidential-candidate-sentenced-to-15-days-in-jail","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/109102\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: former presidential candidate sentenced to 15 days in jail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

October 12, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Former presidential candidate Ta\u0107ciana Karatkievi\u010d has been sentenced to 15 days in jail for a banned photo, which has been around her social media since 2020, Na\u0161a Niva<\/em> reported yesterday. The specific charge is unknown. In 2015, Karatkievi\u010d run for president as candidate from the “Tell the Truth!” movement. In recent years, she has switched from politics to supporting people with disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judges in the Hrodna region considered several cases under Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses prohibiting the distribution of banned content. Hrodna’s Leninski District Court tried Hanna Ryba\u0142kina, Julija Ha\u0142ava\u010d and Raisa Kalenik. The Navahrudak District Court tried Pavie\u0142 \u0141ufiera\u016d, Iryna Ba\u0161ko, Iryna Darafiej\u010dyk and Halina Chvia\u0144ko. The Zelva District Court tried Iryna Kavylina. The sentences are unknown, Pravo Imeyut reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 11, the Minsk City Court began the trial of Maryna Leanovi\u010d, a Belarusian-speaking IT professional from EPAM who was arrested upon return from Georgia. She is charged with extremism funding and participating in a foreign armed conflict, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moscow’s Tverskoy court sentenced Alaksandar Fra\u0142o\u016d, a former Belarusian political prisoner who hit the Kremlin wall with a hammer and splashed paint on the facade of the State Historical Museum. The man was tried for defying police orders, Moscow’s judiciary reported. In January 2022, the \u017d\u0142obin District Court in the Homiel region sentenced Fra\u0142o\u016d to one and a half years in an open-type corrective institution for alleged violent disorder. He was released in 2023, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 11, the Salihorsk District Court in the Minsk region began the trial of \u017danna A\u016dram\u010dyk, accused of insulting the head of state and an official. This week, judges considered five cases of insulting Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka and three cases of insulting officials. Most often, people are accused of these offenses for comments on social media, Viasna said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A woman applied for a job at a state organization only to be arrested. Pro-government media called her a former member of the Belarusian Popular Front’s youth wing. On a police video, the woman says she took part in protests in 2020 and, in online chats, insulted security officers and called for blocking roads. Authorities also arrested a man who allegedly posted critical comments about \u0141uka\u0161enka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Committee for State Security (KGB) designated Akty\u016dnym By\u0107 Fajna, an informal education project, as an extremist group, the interior ministry reported. The KGB linked feminist activist Julija Mickievi\u010d to the project. According to the report, the group is headquartered in Lithuania and has branches in Poland, Ukraine, Georgia and Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, officials banned the Facebook page of the Polish Radio<\/em>‘s Belarusian service, the Telegram channel Kropka<\/em>, the YouTube channel malina_shorts<\/em> and about two dozen more social media pages as extremist content, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also added 34 names to the list of persons “involved in extremist activity.” The list on the interior ministry website contains 4,523 entries. All newly-designated extremists were convicted on charges typical of politically-motivated cases. However, only 16 were declared political prisoners by the human rights community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities sold at auction an office of about 31 square meters in central Minsk seized from Eduard Babaryka, jailed son of former presidential hopeful Viktar Babaryka, e-auction.by<\/em> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights defenders declared Siarhiej Jun\u010dyc, Alena La\u015bnie\u016dskaja, A\u0142a Dziasiacik, Ta\u0107ciana Vasiljeva and U\u0142adzimir \u0141azarevi\u010d political prisoners, Viasna reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of October 12, human rights defenders identified at least 1,287 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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