Belarusian journalists have collected the most brutal sentences in Belarus in 2022 in political cases. Some of them are far-fetched, all of them have sentences exceeded.
The self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, is trying to hold on to power and is afraid of even the sweetest manifestations of defiance. Activists are “sewn cases” for terrorism, even if they did not have time to do anything. Their lawyers are also thrown into jail.
The most cruel sentences in Belarus in 2022
Autukhovich's case – from 6 years for a hidden laptop, up to 25 for terrorist attack and conspiracy
In October, Judge Maksim Filatov delivered a verdict in the case of the “Autukhovich group” in Hrodna, 12 people were accused. Nikolai Autukhovich was sentenced to 25 years in prison. According to the prosecution, he stocked up on weapons, some of which he allegedly acquired in Ukraine, set up several “hiding places”, damaged the cars of two security officials (he burned one, blew up the other), and also set fire to the unfinished house of one of them. Autukhovich was charged with 10 articles, including conspiracy to seize power, treason, calls to harm national security, the creation of a criminal organization, incitement of hatred and a terrorist attack.
At the same time, they condemned the family of friends with whom Autukhovich was visiting – Sergei, Lyubov and Pavel Rezanovich:
- Priest Sergei Rezanovich was charged with possession of weapons and participation in a criminal group. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. According to investigators, his wife Lyubov helped collect information about the security forces. Sentence – 15 years in prison. Their son Pavel received 19 years in prison for using the base of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in preparing terrorist attacks.
- Another acquaintance of Mikalai Autukhovich, Pavel Savva, was accused of creating a criminal group and committing a terrorist act. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
- Vladimir Gundar, an acquaintance of Autukhovich, was accused of participating in the creation of a criminal group and helping Autukhovich to look for weapons in Ukraine. Gundar received 18 years in prison.
- Pensioner Galina Derbysh, according to investigators, helped Autukhovich plan to blow up the riot police car. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
- Viktor Snigir, another old acquaintance of Autukhovich, according to investigators, organized “illegal corridors for the transportation of ammunition and explosives from Ukraine.” He was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
- Olga Mayorova, according to the prosecution, the host of Autukhovich's telegram channel, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
- Irina Goryachkina, who helped Autukhovich hide his laptop, received 6 years and 1 month in prison.
- Irina Melkher, a friend of the Rezanoviches, suggested that Autukhovich commit a terrorist act against several policemen, telling him their names, and also participated in a protest round dance in Brest. She was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Her son Anton Melcher is also accused of protesting “dance” in Brest, he received 2.5 years in prison.
Vyacheslav Maleichuk – 22 years in prison for preparing explosions< /p>
On May 30, the Minsk Regional Court sentenced Vyacheslav Maleichuk, a resident of Pinsk, to 22 years in prison. He was accused of preparing acts of terrorism: according to the materials of the case, he planted improvised explosive devices in the Borisov district and Minsk in 2021. According to the prosecution, he received instructions on how to act from BYPOL.
The court found him guilty of an attempted act of terrorism related to the murder of a person, illegal actions in relation to explosives and combustible substances. The prosecutor's office uses the wording “related to the murder of a person”, but there is no more information about the murder.
The case of the VGSB – from 13 to 20 years for the attempt on Azarenka, explosions and arson
There were five defendants in the case of the “Civil Self-Defence Detachments”:
- One of them, Dmitry Sosnovsky, was accused of attempting to assassinate the propagandist Azarenka and creating an extremist group (Gidra telegram channel). He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
- Vadim Gulevich and Aleksey Glotov were accused of entering the territory of a military facility in the Vileika district (43 radio stations of military unit 49390 of the RF Ministry of Defense) and causing two explosions. For penetration, the defendants used information collected by Alexei Glotov and Kirill Ashurko. As a result, the court sentenced Glotov to 20 years in prison, Gulevich to 18 years, and Ashurka to 13 years.
- Natalia Matveeva, another member of the VGSB, was accused of intending to set fire to service equipment on the territory of the Berezinsky forestry enterprise. The court sentenced her to 14 years in prison.
“Revolutionary Action” – from 5 to 17 years for creating an extremist formation and arson of the tax office
On September 6, the Minsk City Court sentenced the defendants in the Revolutionary Action case to 5 to 17 years in prison. The court appointed Alexander Frantskevich 17 years in prison, Akihiro Gaevsky-Khanada – 16, Martha Rabkova – 15, Alexei Golovko – 12, Pavel Shpetny, Nikita Drants, Alexander Kozlyanko, Andrei Chepyuk – 6 each, Andrei Marach and Daniil Chu. The defendants were charged under ten articles, including the creation and participation in a criminal organization and the creation of an extremist formation.
The investigation claims that from 2005 to 2020, unidentified persons with the participation of 31-year-old anarchist Alexander Frantskevich and 26-year-old human rights activist Marfa Rabkova united “a number of organized criminal groups”: “Revolutionary Action”, “People's Self-Defense”. These associations, according to investigators, became part of an international criminal organization.
According to the investigation, Frantskevich and Rabkova were the organizers of the arson of the tax office of the Gomel region in March 2017 using Molotov cocktails. After the trial of the defendants in the Revolutionary Action case, the lawyers of the convicted were detained.
16 years in prison for setting fire to two BelToll points
The Borisov District Court sentenced 34-year-old local resident Ilya Trubin to 16 years in prison on charges of setting fire to two checkpoints of the BelToll toll collection system. Trubin was charged under three articles of the Criminal Code: an act of terrorism and a repeated terrorist attack, illegal actions with weapons, as well as illegal actions with combustible substances.
According to the prosecution, on December 1, 2020 and January 29, 2021, Trubin set fire to two BelToll points, causing more than 450,000 rubles in damage. According to journalists, in the past, Trubin worked as a KGB officer.
From 2 to 16 years for Lukashenka's effigy and an object “like an explosive device”
In August 2022, the court of Bobruisk and Bobruisk district sentenced five local residents. The court sentenced Konstantin Yermalovich to 16 years in prison, Vitaly Minkevich to 15 years, Igor Kozlov was sentenced to 14 years in prison, and Nadezhda Polkina to 2 years. The court appointed Natalia Ked 2 years of house arrest.
Judge Natalia Agladkova found Kozlov, Yermolovich, Minkevich guilty of creating a terrorist organization or participating in it, an act of terrorism, threatening an act of terrorism and insulting Lukashenko. Natalya Ked and Nadezhda Polkina were found guilty only in the image of Lukashenka.
All the defendants were accused of setting fire to an effigy of Lukashenka in March 2021, and Kozlov, Yermolovich and Minkevich were also accused of actions of a “terrorist nature” in the summer and autumn of 2021. Then the Department of Internal Affairs of the Mogilev Oblast Executive Committee stated that an object similar to an explosive device was found near the railway station. Similar items were found by railway employees near the Titovka and Babino stations and by Tabakarka sellers in Bobruisk.
16 years of the “rail partisans” who were shot in the knees
The court behind closed doors sentenced “rail guerrilla” Vitaly Melnyk to 16 years in prison. Melnik was accused of an act of terrorism, deliberately disabling railway tracks for the purpose of an act of terrorism, insulting Lukashenka, illegal acquisition and storage of firearms. Borisov. During his arrest, he was shot in both legs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs said that this was “justified because of the real threat of armed resistance.”
15 years in prison for punctured tires and a burned-out car
On June 30, a court sentenced Andrey Podnebny, a Gomel resident, a Russian citizen, to 15 years in prison. The Gomel resident was tried on three counts: leadership of an extremist formation, an attempt to destroy someone else's property in a generally dangerous way, and acts of terrorism.
According to the investigation, in November 2021, he entered the transport depot and punctured the tires of 39 trolleybuses, and also ran an “extremist” telegram channel. In addition, according to the prosecution, Podnebny poured a flammable liquid on a car belonging to a security official and set it on fire.
15 years in prison for a “rail partisan” for a “terrorist attack that did not happen”
On September 16, the Vitebsk Regional Court sentenced 50-year-old ex-employee of the “Belarusian Railway” Sergei Konovalov to 15 years in prison on charges of preparing a terrorist attack.Konovalov was found guilty of inciting hatred, preparing for a terrorist attack and deliberately rendering communications unusable. The court in the case was closed, so the details of the prosecution are unknown, earlier the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that he allegedly planned to disable the systems responsible for traffic safety. up to 15 years for damage to the car and stones in the window
The Minsk City Court sentenced six defendants in the case of the association “Aista Lyatsats” to imprisonment for a term of 8.5 to 15 years. Defendants Andrei Budai and Aleksey Gameza were sentenced to 15 and 14.5 years in prison, respectively. Aleksey Ivanisov was sentenced to 14 years in prison, while Alexander Muravyov and Alexander Sidorenko were sentenced to 12 and 8 years in prison, respectively. Mikalai Biblis was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison.
According to the accusation, the members of the group doused with paint and punctured the tires of the car of the judge of the Minsk region, damaged the wheels of the car belonging to the “SB. Belarus Today” employee, threw stones at the window of the employee's apartment of the Minsk prosecutor's office and a pro-government public activist damaged the video surveillance system in the Frunzensky district.
Denis Ivashin – 13 years and 1 month in prison for “stateism”
On September 14, the Grodno Regional Court sentenced journalist Denis Ivashin to 13 years and 1 month in a penal colony under a reinforced regime on charges of interfering in the activities of a policeman and treason against the state. The trial in the case against the journalist was closed, the details of the process are unknown. The journalist was detained in a criminal case on March 12, 2021. The KGB believes that he collaborated with the Ukrainian special services: in his publications, “regularly carried out informational stuffing of the so-called hostile actions of Russia against Ukraine and Belarus.”
Ivashin published an investigation on the InformNapalm website and in the Novoe Vres= me”. He told how journalists identified former employees of the Ukrainian special forces “Berkut” who participated in the dispersal of Belarusian protests in the ranks of the Belarusian OMON. On March 4, two weeks before the arrest, a third of the investigation came out.
12 years in prison for Molotov cocktails
On June 23, a court in Baranavichy sentenced a local resident, Dmitry Neshta, to 12 years in prison on charges of “an act of terrorism.” He was convicted for illegal actions with objects with combustible substances, as well as for an act of terrorism.
According to investigators, on September 26, 2020, Something made three Molotov cocktails in the garage, set them on fire and threw them into the parking lot near military unit 7404.
11 years old ex-investigator who helped the security forces in retraining
On December 26, the Minsk City Court sentenced ex-investigator Yevgeny Yushkevich to 11 years in prison. He was found guilty of gross violation of order, riots and incitement of hatred.
Yushkevich worked for several years in the Investigative Committee. In the summer of 2020, already working in IT, he became one of the founders of the ByChange project with the help of training and retraining security officials, officials and other citizens of Belarus who lost their jobs due to their political views.
11 years for “leaking” personal data
On February 8, a court in Minsk sentenced two former employees of the Beltelecom company, Aleksey Bychkovsky and Artem Parkhamovich, to 11 years in prison for “leaking” personal data in the social network data of more than 200 security officials, judges and journalists, who were then subjected to bullying. They were tried under eight articles of the Criminal Code, including assistance in inciting social hatred, unlawful possession of computer information.
11 years in prison for a fire on rails
On October 17, the Minsk District Court sentenced Sergei Glebko, a resident of Stolbtsy, to 11 years in a penal colony under a reinforced regime on charges of terrorism and deliberately rendering railways unusable for lighting a fire on the rails. In March, Sergei Glebka lit a fire right in front of a passenger train, whose crew did not have time to slow down, so the train drove right over the fire.
According to the prosecution, Glebka's actions created “a real threat of grave consequences,” including death or injury to people. The reason for kindling the fire, according to investigators, was the “influence of destructive telegram channels”.
11 years in prison for “expressing readiness” to commit sabotage on the railway
On October 12, the Mogilev Regional Court sentenced Aleksey Shishkovets, a resident of Osipovichi, to 11 years in prison under articles on terrorism and participation in an armed formation or conflict on the territory of a foreign state. Little is known about the Shishkovets case. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus wrote that at the beginning of 2022, Shishkovets became a member of BYPOL, “logged in to the mobilization chat bot to commit illegal actions in Belarus” and led the yard chat. Allegedly, there he “expressed his active readiness to promote direct actions at railway facilities in the area of the city of Osipovichi in order to carry out sabotage and prevent the advance of echelons with military equipment.”From 2.5 to 11 years in prison in the case of a “coup d'état”
On September 5, the Minsk Regional Court sentenced five defendants in the case of a coup d'etat:
- Jurysta Yury The court sentenced Zenkovich to 11 years in prison. He was tried under articles on conspiracy to seize power, create an extremist formation, calls for the seizure of power and inciting enmity and enmity.
- BNF chairman Grigory Kostusev and political scientist Alexander Feduta were sentenced to 10 years in prison. Both accused a conspiracy to seize power.
- The court sentenced two more defendants, trucker Denis Kravchuk and accountant Olga Golubovich, to 2.5 years in prison for gross violation of order.
- It seems that they with the support of “American intelligence agencies planned a coup d'etat, the murder of Alexander Lukashenko and his entire family.”
10 years in prison for graffiti and postcards
The Ministry of Regional Court sentenced Oleg Gavrilov, a resident of Soligorsk, to 10 years in prison. Together with him, his acquaintances Alexander and Tatyana Birulya were tried, they were sentenced to 6 years in prison, as well as Sergei Pasyuk, he was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison. Soligorsk residents were accused of slandering Alexander Lukashenko, damaging property, inciting hatred, acting against national security and promoting extremist activities. This is because in January 2021 he bought and provided aerosol cans of paint to Alexander and Tatyana Biruli. On the wall of one of the houses, they put an inscription in which they “accused Alexander Lukashenko of a particularly serious crime.”
The investigation also claims that Gavrilov, together with his friend Sergei Pasyuk, distributed leaflets and other printed materials with “calls to to the seizure of power, the violent change of the constitutional order and other crimes against national security.”
10 years in prison for videos
On September 30, the Brest Regional Court sentenced Denis Salmanovich to 10 years in prison, whom he named the chief visual editor of Sotrudnik's videos. He was charged under five articles of the Criminal Code – the creation of a terrorist organization or participation in it, the creation of an extremist formation or participation in it, gross violation of the order, incitement of hatred, calls against national security.
In the “repentant” video published by the security forces, Salmanovich said he was detained because he “was on destructive telegram channels”, “collaborated with Storks Lyatsyatsya” and participated in protests in 2020.
10 years for setting fire to the car of the head of the forensic examination committee
The Central District Court of Minsk sentenced 23-year-old Anton Lysov to 10 years in prison in a case of damaging someone else's property. Together with him, 19-year-old Zakhar Tarazevich was tried, he was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. They were found guilty of setting fire to the car of the head of the forensic examination committee Alexei Volkov.
10 years for trying to set fire to the dacha
In March, the Minsk Regional Court sentenced 39-year-old Minsk resident Alexander Zaitsev to 10 years in prison on charges of attempted terrorism for attempting to set fire to Supreme Court Chairman Valentin Sukalo. A Minsk resident was detained on August 22, 2021 near the Sukalo dacha during an arson attempt. The indictment states that Zaitsev “could not bring his intention to the end, because law enforcement officers stopped illegal actions in time, which ensured public safety.”
10 years in prison for leaking conversations between Baskov and Eismont
The Minsk City Court sentenced former KGB lieutenant colonel Aleksey Khralovich to 10 years in prison on charges of treason. Allegedly, he handed over recordings of telephone conversations between Natalia Eismont and Lukashenka's assistant Nikolai Latyshenko and the head of the ice hockey federation Dmitry Baskov of the Nexta telegram channel.
Three more Belarusian “rail partisans” were sentenced to more than 20 years
December 27 “rail partisans” Denis Dikun, Dmitry Ravich and Oleg Molchanov were sentenced to 23, 22 and 21 years in prison.
