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

TALLINN, Estonia — A famous Belarusian dissident writer stated Friday that his father has been sentenced to two weeks in prison for reposting an article from an opposition website online.

Alexander Filipenko used to be seized through police Thursday in a raid on his condo and later “given 13 days for reposting some kind of article from Zerkalo,” his son Sasha Filipenko stated on Facebook. Zerkalo is a website online based totally outdoor the rustic that is important of the authoritarian govt of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Sasha Filipenko, who lives outdoor Belarus, is a well-liked novelist and some of the distinguished voices opposing Lukashenko, who has harshly cracked down on dissent and impartial media since a wave of large protests broke out in 2020.

Those protests began after a disputed presidential election whose effects gave any other time period to Lukashenko, who has dominated since 1994.

Lukashenko unleashed harsh measures towards the protesters, with police detaining round 35,000 other people and beating 1000’s. Many main opposition figures fled the rustic, together with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who ran towards him within the election. Others were jailed, akin to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, founding father of the human rights crew Viasna.