{"id":86734,"date":"2024-05-23T11:35:56","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T08:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/86734\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"reprisals-authorities-keep-hrassing-2020-protesters","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/86734\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprisals: authorities keep imprisoning 2020 protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 23, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Belarusian authorities continued punishing people who participated in 2020 postelection protests as new political reprisals documented in Belarus on May 22 demonstrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Brest judge sentenced eight people to prison over protests: Vital Varfa\u0142amieje\u016d, Alaksandar Tysievi\u010d, Vasil Aleksiejuk, Mika\u0142aj Nikiciuk, Maksim Sobale\u016d and Hleb Klimovi\u010d\u00a0were given two years in prison; Julia \u0160aronava, 18 months; Mikita Vajciuk, one year, the Brest branch of the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2020, Vajciuk and \u0160aronava were legal minors. Sobale\u016d and \u0160aronava were previously convicted of drug offenses. Their sentences were extended to 12 and 13 years, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another case, Barys Vitko, 68, was given seven years and three months in prison and fined 12,000 rubels ($3,750) for allegedly insulting and defaming Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, insulting officials and calling for sanctions, Viasna’s Brest branch said. In early 2023, Vitko had been given two years of restricted freedom in home confinement for allegedly insulting a judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stanis\u0142a\u016d Puciacin, a manager at a Minsk-based company selling electronic and communication equipment, is accused of participating in protests and association with an extremist group, Na\u0161a Niva <\/em>said.\u00a0Police officers who arrested him reportedly found a recent message from the ByPol resistance group on his smartphone, urging Belarusians to vote for the new Coordination Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online activities<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administrator of the Propovednik<\/em> Telegram channel is accused of inciting hatred in connection with politically-sensitive social media posts, a pro-government source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities branded alehkulesha<\/em>, olgagrin22<\/em>, decoder_org<\/em>, volha_volhas<\/em>, belarusinlt <\/em>and juls_frog <\/em>on Instagram as extremist content, the <\/em>information ministry said. Other blacklisted content on various social media platforms includes pages by Bella Fox, Tribunal. info | Bie\u0142aruski Narodny Trybuna\u0142 and Belarusian Social Democratic Party Hramada as well as Tim Suladze<\/em>, katalik z Bielarusi<\/em>, Bie\u0142aruski Narodny Front<\/em>, BeLaRuS<\/em>, bnr100by<\/em>, lukafakeit<\/em> on TikTok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian border authorities reported the arrest of two men at the border with Lithuania. One of them was wanted by police for posting comments to an opposition Telegram channel, while the other one was a driver who tried to help him leave Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Authorities released Catholic priest Pavie\u0142 Lemech after he had served 10 days in jail for an alleged minor offense, Chry\u015bcijanskaja Vizija reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The State Control Committee said 80 criminal proceedings had been opened last year on charges of financing extremism in connection with donations to opposition solidarity groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of May 23, human rights defenders identified at least 1,391 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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