Коллаж: spring96.org/be
Belarus’s State Security Committee (KGB) has updated its list of “persons involved in terrorist activities.” Fourteen people, including three women, have been added.
Among those included are “Honest People” activists Alena Zhylachkinа (Zhyvaglod), Zaryna Sarokina, Aleh Davydchyk and Tsimafey Malakhouski. They were sentenced in absentia by the Vitsyebsk Regional Court on Jan. 22. The defendants were charged under several articles of the Criminal Code, including “discrediting Belarus,” “inciting hatred,” “insulting and slandering Lukashenka,” and “calling for sanctions against the Republic of Belarus.”
Alena Zhylachkina was sentenced to 10 years in a medium-security penal colony and fined 67,500 Belarusian rubles. Zaryna Sarokina, Tsimafey Malakhouski and Aleh Davydchyk were each sentenced to eight years in a penal colony and fined 40,500 Belarusian rubles.
They had previously been added to the Interior Ministry’s list of “extremists”.
The “Honest People” initiative was established in 2020 to counter fraud in the presidential election. Its volunteers sought appointments to precinct election commissions and served as election observers. Together with the “Holas” and “ZUBR.in” initiatives, “Honest People” created online platforms to monitor polling stations and the Holas platform for an independent vote count.
Also added to the list were Aliaksandr Zubryk, Stanislau Pryhodzich, Artsiom Sabaleuski, Yauhen Perhayeu, Aksana Volvacheva, Siarhei Poka, Valery Rynkevich, Danat Dashkouski, Anatol Vaitsekhouski and Uladzimir Karcheuny.
The “terrorist” list now contains 1,471 names, 719 of whom are Belarusians.
Accusations of extremism and terrorism in Belarus are widely used against opponents of the authorities and dissent more broadly.