On September 20, the Vitsebsk regional court started hearings of the criminal case of Alyaksei Yarshou. He is charged with fighting on the territory of other countries.
Court hearings are closed for the public. According to the assistant to judge Natallya Platonenka, the case file has documents that are protected by the law on state secrets.
The Article 363-3 of the Criminal Code provides for punishment with prison term for up to 5 years.
This year, a Vitsebsk court has passed a sentence to the 20-year-old resident of Vitsebsk Stanislau Hancharou (“terror machine”), who fought in Donbas. From 2014 until 2016, Hancharou took part in the fighting in Ukraine as member of the battalion “Azov”. He was sentenced to 7 years in strict regime prison under several articles of the Criminal Code.
Vitsebsk regional court decided to punish Yarshou with two years of freedom restriction.
The verdict has not entered into force, it may be appealed.
According nn.by, Mr Yarshou fought in Ukraine on the side of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic.” Alyaksaei has a wife and child. It is likely that Yarshou comes from Pastavy.
In 2016, a Minsk court sentenced Taras Avatarau, volunteer from the “Right Sector” (took part in the hostilities in Donbass) to 5 years in prison. The resident of Navapolatsk (Vitsebsk region) was detained last year at the Minsk railway station with a grenade in his pocket.
