Belarus authorities ask Russia to deliver MMA fighter Kudzin. He may face 5 years in jail
The Belarusian Prosecutor General’s Office submitted a request for the extradition of athlete Alyaksei Kudzin to Russia’s Prosecutor General.
In August 2020. world kickboxing and Thai boxing champion Alyaksei Kudzin took part in the post-election protests in the town of Maladzechna. When internal troops were trying to grab him, he knocked out a policeman.
Alyaksei spent several weeks in a remand prison in Zhodzina; on August 21, he was placed under house arrest. Kudzin was charged under Article 363-2 of the Criminal Code (‘resistance to an officer of internal affairs or another person guarding public order’). In accordance with Belarusian law, the maximum penalty is up to five years of imprisonment. However, Alyaksei failed to show up at the hearing of his case and left Belarus for Russia.
In January, he was detained in Moscow at the request of the Belarusian authorities. The athlete was reported to be arrested for two months.
Kudzin is seeking political asylum in Russia. The Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (BSSF) sent a letter in defense of fighter Alyaksei Kudzin to the State Duma, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Russian Olympic Committee; about 300 sportspersons signed it, asking not to extradite him to Belarus.
