Man gets one year in correctional facility for drawing white-red-white flags on abandoned building
Barysau district court found 21-year-old Mikalai Slyoz guilty under Art. 341 of the Criminal Code (‘desecration of buildings and doing damage to property’), the human rights centre Viasna reports.
The young resident of the agro-town Kishchyna Slabada was accused of drawing two white-red-white flags on the abandoned building of the local community centre. According to the prosecution, the defendants also covered two trees and a power pole with paint in white and red colours. Mikalai’s friend is being tried separately.
Notably, the above mentioned building has been empty and forsaken since 2000; moreover, the authorities previously took a decision to demolish it.
The total sum of the ‘damage’ amounted to 51 Belarusian rubles (appr. $20). The public prosecutor demanded Mikalai get 1.5 years of restriction of liberty.
Although Mikalai Slyoz fully admitted his guilt, today judge Dzmitry Kryvela has sentenced him to one year of restriction of liberty in an open-type correctional facility. The Belarusian human rights community recognised the 21-year-old Belarusian as a political prisoner.
