Алексей Леончик и Андрей Стрижак. Фото: соцсети
The Interior Ministry has added 32 more people to the “List of Citizens of the Republic of Belarus, Foreign Citizens, or Stateless Persons Involved in Extremist Activity.”
Among them are figures in the BYSOL and BY_Help foundations case: Andrej Stryzhak, Aliaksei Liavonchyk, Yaraslau Likhacheuski, Aliaksei Kuzmiankou, Aliaksandr Lapko, Aliaksandra Zhuk, and Aliaksandr Padhorny. They had previously been included in the list of “persons involved in terrorist activity” maintained by the State Security Committee.
The list also includes former fighter of the Kalinoŭski Regiment Maksim Ralko, who was sentenced to 10 years in a high-security penal colony.
As a reminder, in May Andrej Stryzhak and Aliaksei Liavonchyk were sentenced in absentia to 18 years in a high-security penal colony. Along with them, Yaraslau Likhacheuski, Aliaksei Kuzmiankou, Aliaksandr Lapko, Aliaksandr Padhorny, and Aliaksandra Zhuk were sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The list now contains 6,116 names.
Belarusian authorities regularly use extremism charges to combat political opponents and dissent more broadly.