The Belarusian KGB has added 23 people to its terrorists list, including the jailed husband of opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, and RFE/RL consultant Ihar Losik.
The KGB's June 28 move brings the total number of persons on its official registry of terrorists to 870.
Tsikhanouski and Losik were sentenced in December to 18 years and 15 years in prison, respectively, on charges of organizing mass disorder, inciting social hatred, impeding the activities of the Central Election Commission, and organizing activities that disrupted social order.
Both denied the charges, calling them politically motivated.
Rights groups consider them, and four other persons who were sentenced behind closed doors in the southeastern city of Homel, to be political prisoners.
“This escalation is an egregious abuse of the state’s authority and underlines the Lukashenka regime’s contempt for journalists who expose the truth," RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said in a statement, referring to authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
"We continue to demand Ihar’s immediate release from prison so he can be reunited with his wife and daughter,” Fly added.
The crackdown on the pro-democracy movement has intensified since mass protests erupted in the wake of Lukashenka’s August 2020 reelection, which has not been recognized by the opposition and the West.
A popular video blogger, Tsikhanouski intended to run against Lukashenka but was disqualified and arrested before the vote.
Tsikhanouskaya subsequently mobilized voters and won the election, according to the opposition and Western countries who say Lukashenka rigged the results.
Tsikhanouskaya has been living in Lithuania since fleeing Belarus due to concerns about her safety and that of the couple's two children.