Today, November 25, 2022, the trial of the leaders of the Belarusian Republican Trade Union of Radio-Electronic Industry Workers Genadz Fiadynich, Vasil Berasneu and Vatslau Areshka began in the Minsk City Court
The trade unionists were charged under four criminal articles. The court session is held behind closed doors.
The trial of the acting chairman of the REP trade union Vasil Berasneu, the deputy chairman of the trade union Genadz Fiadynich and the editor of the trade union bulletin Vatslau Areshka is underway in the Minsk City Court
The case is being considered by Judge Anastasia Papko, according to the Viasna Human Rights Center. At the first meeting, prosecutor Roman Bizyuk proposed to hold the trial in a closed format, judge Anastasia Popko agreed with him.
It is known that the activists are charged under the following articles - "Participation in an extremist formation", "Calls for actions aimed at causing harm to the national security of Belarus", "Incitement of social hatred", "Creation of an extremist formation and participation in it".
All of them were detained on April 19, 2022. A week before the arrests, on April 11, 2022, the KGB recognized the Trade Union of Radio-Electronic Industry Workers (REP) as an "extremist organization." The trade union was liquidated in July 2022 by the decision of the Supreme Court of Belarus, like three other independent trade unions that formed the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, an alternative trade union center of the FPB.