Belarusian singer Patrytsia Svitsina, who in 2020 refused to accept a scholarship from authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka, citing her "moral principles," has gone on trial on a charge of "actively participating in actions that blatantly disrupt social order."
Judge Viktoria Shabunya of Minsk's Central district court started the trial on August 1.
The Crisis In Belarus
Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.
Earlier in May, Svitsina was shown on pro-government Telegram channels "confessing" to taking part in mass protests against the official results of the August 2020 presidential poll that proclaimed Lukashenka as the winner, blocking public transportation operations, and publishing on social networks "negative information" about Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
In 2020, Svitsina, who was then a student of the Ethnology and Folklore Department at the Belarusian State University in Minsk, publicly rejected Lukashenka’s scholarship offer amid an unprecedented crackdown on dissent over the election, which the opposition and many Western governments say was rigged.
Also, on August 1, the Belarusian Investigative Committee said a court in Minsk had started the trial of an unidentified 46-year-old resident of the Belarusian capital on charges of insulting Lukashenka, judges, and law enforcement officers.
The charges against the man stem from what the Investigative Committee called "1,100 negative comments" under various online posts.
The trials are a sign of the continuing crackdown in Belarus on dissent, independent journalists, rights activists, and opposition politicians.
Thousands have been arrested and much of the opposition leadership has been jailed or forced into exile during the anti-Lukashenka rallies in 2020. Several protesters have been killed, and there have also been credible reports of torture during a widening security crackdown.
Belarusian authorities have also shut down several NGOs and independent media outlets.
The United States, the European Union, and several other countries have refused to acknowledge Lukashenka as the winner of the vote and imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the crackdown.