Novelist’s father is jailed for 2 weeks for reposting an article

TALLINN, Estonia — A famous Belarusian dissident writer stated Friday that his father has been sentenced to 2 weeks in jail for reposting an article from an opposition web site.

Alexander Filipenko was seized by police Thursday in a raid on his residence and later “given 13 days for reposting some sort of article from Zerkalo,” his son Sasha Filipenko stated on Fb. Zerkalo is an internet site primarily based exterior the nation that’s vital of the authoritarian authorities of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Sasha Filipenko, who lives exterior Belarus, is a well-liked novelist and probably the most outstanding voices opposing Lukashenko, who has harshly cracked down on dissent and unbiased media since a wave of giant protests broke out in 2020.

These protests began after a disputed presidential election whose outcomes gave one other time period to Lukashenko, who has dominated since 1994.

Lukashenko unleashed harsh measures in opposition to the protesters, with police detaining round 35,000 folks and beating hundreds. Many main opposition figures fled the nation, together with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who ran in opposition to him within the election. Others have been jailed, resembling Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, founding father of the human rights group Viasna.