At the end of April, local public activists were detained: BCD member Ales Masyuk and BPF Party members Pavel Sevastyan and Viktor Marchik. The Slonim residents were detained as part of a group criminal case involving the activities of the Belarusian Council of Culture. Arrests related to this case also took place in other Belarusian cities. It is known that the Slonim activists participated in several cultural gatherings, which, in the notoriously disrupted legal environment in Belarus, are now considered participation in the activities of an extremist group.
Ales Masyuk, Pavel Sevastyan, and Viktor Marchik have been repeatedly persecuted by the authorities in previous years. They have faced numerous administrative and criminal charges, as well as various provocations.
