What happened to political prisoners on December 12–18

There are currently 1,438 political prisoners in Belarus—and counting. Every week the courts keep handing down new sentences and laying new charges against those already in custody. But there are also those who have served their term and are finally released. Viasna has collected all the news about political prisoners from December 12–18.

Political prisoner count

Last week the list of political prisoners was updated with 11 new names. All of these people were exercising their freedom of opinion and were imprisoned for having allegedly insulted Mr. Aliaksandr Lukashenka, police officers, judges, and desecrated state and state symbols. Rights defenders demanded in their statement that these prisoners are immediately released, and all charges dropped. They believe that defamation offenses must be decriminalized and the articles of the Criminal Code for insulting government officials, the state, and state symbols must be abolished.

The authorities use defamation articles to persecute people for the slightest expression of dissent. But their methods do not end there. The practice of removing children from their families, depriving dissent military and police officers of their ranks, and ordering huge fines are widely used, as can be clearly seen in the case of some recently recognized political prisoners.

Thus, journalist Larysa Shchyrakova was detained on the evening of December 6, 2022, after a search of her home. Her minor son was taken to shelter care on the same day.

Siarhei Lialin is a retired military officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel. After he was detained at the protest rally on November 8, 2020, Aliaksandr Lukashenka stripped him of his military rank.

On July 11, 2022, Lialin was found guilty of “insulting the president” and “insulting a government official”. He was sentenced to a 12-months jail term that was later increased to 24 months.

Mikhail Tarasevich was arrested on May 10, 2022, and placed in pre-trial detention. He was charged under six articles of the Criminal Code:

• Art. 391 ('Insulting a judge or a lay judge)
• Art. 369 ('Insulting a government official')
• Part 1 of Art. 368 ('Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus')
• Part 1 of Art. 366 ('Violence or threat of violence against an official performing official duties')
• Art. 364 ('Violence or threat of violence against an employee of an internal affairs body')
• Part 2 of Art. 366 ('Violence or threat of violence committed repeatedly against an official performing official duties')

The trial began on November 22 and ended on November 28, 2022, with a guilty verdict. Tarasevich received six years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony. Besides, he is to pay compensation for moral damage to the victims, and for the damage caused by the suspension of public transport, in the amount of 49,000 Belarusian rubles (approx. $20,000).

Latest convictions

Last week, Viasna received the reports of at least five people convicted in court.

• On December 12, Judge Alena Misnik of the Minsk Regional Court pronounced the verdict on four political prisoners from Salihorsk region. Judge sentenced spouses Aliaksandr and Tatsiana Birulia to six years in jail, coach Aleh Haurylau received 10 years, and Siarhei Pasiuk was sentenced to five and a half years in jail.

They were detained for the distribution of self-published protest newspapers back on December 13, 2021. Expert examination of the newspaper's content resulted in new charges of “inciting hatred as part of a group” (Part 3 Article 130) and “desecration of buildings and damage to property” (Article 341). The defendants were also charged under part 1 of Article 361 of “calling for restrictive measures (sanctions) and other actions to harm national security” and under part 1 of Article 361-4 of “promoting extremist activity”.

On September 15, 2022, the KGB put political prisoners on the list of persons involved in terrorist activities.

• On the same day, December 12, Judge Ina Sivets of the Kastryčnicki District Court of Minsk convicted Mikita Saidau of “group actions that grossly violate public order” under the “people’s article” 342 of the Criminal Code. Saidau was sentenced to two and a half years of restricted freedom under home confinement.

Released

Last week, seven people finished serving their terms in full and were released.

• Journalist Volha Klaskouskaya served her two-and-a-half-year jail term, having spent 792 days in custody.
• Viktoryia Mirontsava has spent 793 days in jail. She finished her sentence of two and a half years of imprisonment.
• A poet and beekeeper Mikalai Papeka served his term and was released after 461 days of imprisonment. He was first sentenced to 24 months of restricted freedom in an open-type facility, but later the court decided to replace the previous sentence with 8.5 months of imprisonment in a penal colony.
• Vital Zhuk served his 18-months sentence and was released after 489 days in jail.
• Vital Prokharau finished serving his 24-months term in a juvenile penitentiary. He stayed in custody for 676 days.
• Siarhei Piatrukhin and Aliaksandr Kabanau were sentenced to three years of imprisonment. They were released after having spent 915 and 916 days in jail respectively.

Other news

• Henadz Smirnou was placed in a cell-type facility as a malicious violator of the established order. Previously, he was repeatedly placed in a disciplinary cell. It is reported that the political prisoner lost a lot of weight in detention.
• Anarchist activist Siarhei Ramanau was recently placed in a disciplinary cell for a week by the administration of the Vaŭkavysk colony.
• New criminal cases have been initiated against political prisoners Uladzimir Hundar and Pavel Rezanovich. It is known that Hundar is accused of insulting the prosecutor under Article 369 of the Criminal Code.
• Pružany activist Alena Hnauk was placed in a cell-type facility. She will stay there until February 24, 2023.
• Blogger Siarhei Korshun has been detained in the disciplinary cell for 38 days.
• It has been 17 months since the arrest of Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic, and Uladzimir Labkovich. Support Viasna members while they are in jail for fighting for human rights
• Eduard Babaryka remains in pre-trial detention center. This is the longest imprisonment without a court decision in Belarusian history. The complaint about the illegal extension of Babaryka's custody was not satisfied.