{"id":154433,"date":"2025-09-09T11:20:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T08:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/154433\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"reprisals-student-persecuted-for-signing-up-for-female-leadership-program","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/154433\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: student persecuted for signing up for female leadership program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

September 9, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> New cases of politically-motivated persecution were documented in Belarus from September 6 to 8, with a dissident\u2019s death behind bars and more guilty verdicts on extremism-related charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russian national Andrei Podnebenny, given a lengthy prison term in a politically-motivated case, died six days ago in Mahilo\u016d\u2019s Prison No 15, his mother Valentina Podnebennaya said on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student Alina \u0160a\u016dcova was convicted of association with an extremist group for participating in a female leadership education program, Na\u0161a Niva<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Via\u010das\u0142a\u016d Siamiona\u016d, Anastasija Raje\u016dskaja and Leanid \u0160piec were found guilty of facilitating extremism, vitebsk_info <\/em>and the Homiel branch of the Viasna Human Rights Center reported. Siamiona\u016d is in prison, Raje\u016dskaja was given a restricted freedom sentence in home confinement, while details of \u0160piec\u2019s case remain unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The information ministry announced extremist content designations for the Dvach<\/em> Telegram channel with 920,000 followers; flagi_pro<\/em> and belvarta<\/em> on Instagram; Radio Svoboda<\/em> and Naviny \u2013 Novosti Belarusi <\/em>on Odnoklassniki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jailed lawyer Maksim Znak has been held incommunicado since 2023. Another jailed dissident, Maryja Kale\u015bnikava, also has almost no contact with the outside world, as her family received a short letter from her six months ago, her sister Ta\u0107ciana Chomi\u010d said. Kale\u015bnikava has been reportedly deprived of a lawyer for more than two years and is not allowed to receive parcels in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights activists confirmed the detention of 61 people over links to the Bie\u0142aruski Hajun resistance group, Viasna said. The real number of arrests may exceed 250, according to some media reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of September 9, human rights defenders identified at least 1,194 political prisoners but the number may be considerably higher because of many undocumented cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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