What happened to political prisoners on August 15–21

There are already 1,303 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 for the third week of August.

This week the list of political prisoners was updated with 28 new names.

Between August 15 and 21, at least five political prisoners were convicted in courts:

• On August 16, 2022, the Maskoŭski District Court of Brest found Iryna Pryhava guilty of ‘insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus’ and ‘hooliganism’ and sentenced her to 18 months of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony. Also, as requested by the prosecutor, the political prisoner will have to pay a fine of 398 Belarusian roubles 20 kopeks (160 US dollars) for forensic examinations.
• On August 16, 2022, the Homieĺ Regional Court convicted the political prisoner Hanna Pyshnik (Chympayesh) of ‘promoting extremist activity’ under Part 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code. According to the prosecution, she “shot a video of helicopters moving for a biased destructive resource”. She was sentenced to three years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony.
• On August 15, Judge Yauhen Burunou of the Viciebsk Regional Court found Mikita Paleonak guilty of ‘insulting the President and government officials’ (Articles 368 and 369 of the Criminal Code), ‘incitement of hatred’  (Article 130 of the Criminal Code) and ‘creation of an extremist formation’  (Article 361-1 of the Criminal Code). Mikita was sentenced to four years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony.
• On August 17, 2022, the Baranavičy District and Municipal Court found Aliaksandr Kudlovich, a photographer from Baranavičy, guilty of ‘insulting the President’ and ‘insulting a government official’ under Articles 368 and 369 of the Criminal Code and sentenced him to two years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony.
• It also became known that Uladzimir Melnik who was detained on December 8, 2021, in the framework of a criminal case on ‘group actions that grossly violate public order’ (Article 342 of the Criminal Code) was convicted and sentenced to 24 months of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility in May 2022. Since August 1, 2022, the political prisoner has been serving his sentence in a penal colony No. 6.

On August 15, 2022, the Lieninski District Court of Mahilioŭ convicted political prisoner Aleh Yafremenka, who was charged under Part 1 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code with ‘malicious disobedience to the demands of the administration of the correctional institution’. Judge Viktoryia Paliakova sentenced Yafremenka to another 12 months of imprisonment in addition to his previous term. On December 9, 2021, the Pieršamajski District Court of Viciebsk sentenced Yafremenka to four and a half years in a general-security penal colony for ‘using violence against a police officer’ (Article 364 of the Criminal Code)

Uladzimir Katsiubka has served his full term and was released.