Andrei Bandarenka
On February 9, Leninsky district court of Mahiliou will held a preliminary hearing on the case of the Andrei Bandarenka, former head of the human rights organization “Platform Innovation”.
He is accused of violating Article 411 of the Criminal Code (disobedience to the requirements of the correctional institution administration). Andrei Bandarenka, who is serving a sentence in prison N 4 of Mahiliou is facing imprisonment of up to two years.
The case was initiated by the Mahiliou interdistrict department of the Investigative Committee at the initiative of the prison administration. The basis for the charges are three violations of Andrei Bandarenka.
He received the first one for allegedly lying in bed in the daytime, which is prohibited by the prison regulations. Andrei Bandarenka did not agree with the reprimand and appealed to the prosecutor’s office, after which the complaint was filed in the court of Leninski district of Mahiliou. Human rights activist requested records from the camera installed in the room where he is serving his sentence. However, a representative of the prison, who was present at the trial said that records are kept for only three months. The court dismissed the complaint due to expiry of the appeal time limit.
The second reprimand was due to Mr Bandarenka calling the number of his camera, when hearing somebody ask it. It turned out that the question came not from the prison officers but from other prisoners. The prison administration considered the action of Andrei Bandarenka a “violation of the prison regulations”.
The third reprimand, which formed the basis for the criminal case against human rights activist, was issued to him on October 6 because he was late with the report when his cell prison officer came – it was seen as the absence of a report. This reprimand was joined with another ‘reprimnand’. The human rights activist appealed this reprimand, but on December 19, 2016 the court of Leninski district of Mahiliou did not review the appeal.
The court returned the criminal case of Bandarenka for revision to the prosecutor.
