The main “novelty” of the past year was mass repressions against relatives of serving and released political prisoners. On January 23, mass searches and detentions of relatives took place in Belarus, and phones were taken away from the detainees for inspection. The articles under which the detentions and searches are carried out are “Financing of extremist groups” and “Participation in extremist groups”. On July 19, the mother and aunt of Aliaksandr Frantskevich were detained. This happened when they arrived with a parcel for Aliaksandr.
In other respects, the year did not differ significantly from 2023: pressure on prisoners continued using such tools as the destruction of correspondence, placement in punishment cell, PKT, and new criminal cases under Article 411 “Malicious disobedience to the demands of the administration of a correctional institution executing a sentence of imprisonment.”
Transfers from colony to colony.
At the very beginning of the year, on January 4, Aliaksandr Frantskevich was transferred from a colony №11 to №5, and in December, after the “trial” under Article 411, he was transferred to colony №8. On August 8, it became known that Dzmitry Rezanovich was transferred to colony №14 after the “trial”. Immediately after the transfer, he was placed in a punishment cell for 20 days.
Blocking of correspondence.
On February 20, it became known about the information blockade of Andrei Chapiuk, the anarchist’s letters are not sent anywhere. For almost two months, there was no contact with the anti-fascist Tamaz Pipija.
Placement in a punishment cell.
Since July 12, 2024, the maximum period of stay in a punishment cell was increased from 10 days to 15.
Tamaz Pipija spent almost a month from the first half of February to March 7. In addition, he is constantly under pressure, people from the prisoners are assigned to him to monitor all his actions.
From June 13 to 26, Ihar Alinevich held a hunger strike in the punishment cell of the Zhodzina prison in order to be transferred to the hospital. The emaciated anarchist with suspected stomach ulcer was taken to the hospital directly from the punishment cell. On September 25, it became known that Ihar was again placed in the punishment cell.
On June 17, Mikalai Dziadok was sent to the punishment cell. And on August 15, right before a meeting with his relatives, Andrei Chapiuk. In November, it became known that Dzmitry Dubouski spent 15 days in the punishment cell.
Tightening of the regime.
On April 11, Tamaz Pipija was transferred to the PKT (cell-type room). On June 1, it became known that Akikhira Hajeuski-Khanada was sent to the PKT for four months. Later, in November, information appeared that Akikhira had been transferred to prison regime in the summer, most likely right after the PKT.
Siarhei Ramanau was placed in the PKT for 5 months, information about this appeared in July.
In October, it became known that Dzmitry Rezanovich had been transferred to the PKT for six months.
New terms for “disobedience to the demands of the administration.”
The main repressive article of dictatorial Belarus, which is used against prisoners, is Article 411 “Malicious disobedience to the demands of the administration of a correctional institution executing a sentence of imprisonment.” It allows a person to be kept in prison or colony almost indefinitely.
On January 30, a case was opened against Dzmitry Rezanovich under this article, on May 5, information appeared that 9 months of imprisonment had been added to his 19-year sentence.
On May 30, it became known that Aliaksandr Frantskevich would be tried in a similar case. On June 24, the so-called the court added another year to Alexander’s 17 years of imprisonment.
On June 17, a case under 411 was opened against Mikalai Dziadok. In September, two imprisoned activists received new terms under 411: on September 5, Tamaz Pipija was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison, a new term of 6.5 years in prison, and at the end of the month, Siarhei Ramanau received the maximum term under this article, 2 years. Before that, in 2023, he was sentenced under the same article to 9 months, so the anarchist’s term is close to 23 years in prison.
Some good news.
In April, two people were released from prison: on the 11th – anti-fascist Krystsina Charankova, who was detained on March 22, 2022 for anti-war and anti-police posts on Instagram, and on the 15th – Vadzim Dzenisenka. He was arrested in December 2021 and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for posting leaflets and stickers of the anarchist group “Pramen”. We do not know Vadzim’s political views, but since he was repressed for distributing anarchist materials, ABC supported him.