Journalist Andrey Kuznechyk of RFE/RL's Belarusian Service, known locally as Radio Svaboda, on August 21 marked his 1,000th day in prison on charges, he, his employer, and human rights organizations call politically motivated.
Kuznechyk, a father of two, was arrested on November 25, 2021, and initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on hooliganism charges that he rejected.
After serving that penalty, Kuznechyk was kept in jail and was subsequently charged with creating an extremist group, a move that officials withheld from Kuznechyk's relatives and colleagues for months.
On June 8, 2022, the Mahilyou regional court in the country's east found Kuznechyk guilty and sentenced him to six years in prison. The trial lasted just one day.
Human rights groups in Belarus have recognized Kuznechyk as a political prisoner.
Kuznechyk, who has maintained his innocence, and some 150 other Belarusian political prisoners, including another RFE/RL journalist, Ihar Losik, and former would-be presidential candidate Viktar Babaryka, are serving sentences at the same correctional colony No. 1 in the northern city of Navapolatsk.
Correctional colony No. 1 is known as one of the most restricted penitentiaries in the country.
SEE ALSO: Wife Of Jailed Journalist Losik Released In Amnesty, Rights Group SaysInitially, the territory of the colony was occupied by a number of temporary houses built for workers at a then newly built oil refinery in 1958.
The territory was later turned into correctional colony No. 10, where mostly members of organized criminal groups, noted crime kingpins, and so-called thieves-in-law served their terms.
Belarusian authorities started sending political prisoners to the correctional colony in 2010.
In 2017, the penitentiary changed its name to correctional colony No. 1.
Since a disputed August 2020 presidential election sparked mass protests over authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka's victory, tens of thousands of Belarusians have been arrested for voicing any dissent against the regime.
The crackdown has pushed most opposition politicians, who say the vote was rigged, to leave the country fearing for their safety.
Many Western governments have refused to recognize the results of the election and do not consider Lukashenka to be the country's legitimate leader.
Many countries have imposed several rounds of sanctions against his regime in response to the suppression of dissent in the country.
RFE/RL's jailed journalists (left to right): Ihar Losik, Andrey Kuznechyk, and Vladyslav Yesypenko
Kuznechyk is one of three RFE/RL journalists -- Ihar Losik and Vladyslav Yesypenko are the other two -- currently imprisoned on charges related to their work. Rights groups and RFE/RL have called repeatedly for the release of all three, saying they have been wrongly detained.
Losik is a blogger and contributor for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service who was convicted in December 2021 on several charges including the “organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order” and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Yesypenko, a dual Ukrainian-Russian citizen who contributed to Crimea.Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, was sentenced in February 2022 to six years in prison by a Russian judge in occupied Crimea after a closed-door trial. He was convicted of “possession and transport of explosives,” a charge he steadfastly denies.