At least 55 Belarusians charged with 'high treason'

At least 55 people are currently involved in criminal cases of "high treason", human rights activists write. These are the people who have been sentenced, including in absentia, and those who are in detention. In the vast majority of cases, it is political persecution. Human rights activists report that while two years ago there were 12 political prisoners prosecuted for "high treason," today there are 39. According to human rights activist Pavel Sapelka, this article is becoming "a daily weapon of repression".
 

 At the same time, the number of detainees under this article may be higher, experts say, since "treason" cases are often shrouded in secrecy, and the vast majority of trials take place behind closed doors. In some cases, the verdict in such cases is unknown. Captain of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Dzianis Urad (18 years in prison); former KGB Lieutenant Colonel Aliaksey Khralovich (10 years in prison); media executive Andrei Aliaksandrau and his wife Iryna Zlobina (14 and 9 years in prison, respectively); independent journalists Katsiaryna Bakhvalava (Andreyeva) (8 years in prison) and Dzianis Ivashyn (13 years and 1 month in prison), as well as 10 defendants in the "Labor Movement Case" (from 11 to 15 years in prison).

For example, the manager, founder and former director of the Art Syadziba platform, Pavel Belavus, was accused of "spreading the ideas of Belarusian nationalism under the guise of cultural and historical development in various public social networks and websites, the goal of which was to change the state power in Belarus".

A year ago the deputies of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus adopted a bill which, among other things, provides for the introduction of the death penalty for officials who commit high treason.