Reserve officer sentenced to 3 years of restriction of liberty. He asked uniformed services to stop violence against protesters
On December 14, Maskouski district court of Minsk competed hearing of the case of Syarhei Shpak, a retired leutenant colonel and political prisoner.
In October 2020, four reserve officers: Major Andrey Dzichko, Lieutenant Colonel Syarhei Bendz, Lieutenant Colonel Syarhei Shpak and Major Andrey Bakurenka recorded a video message where they called on the security forces to stop the violence against protesters and to take the side of the people. The film was published on Youtube; at the moment, it is unavailable.
Syarhei Shpak was detained during a long wave of searches and detentions in Minsk in mid July. At first, he was put in the KGB remand prison, but then transferred to the pre-trial detention centre Nr 1 in Minsk.
He was charged with ‘organisation and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order’ (Part 1 of Art. 342 of the Criminal Code), the human rights centre Viasna reports. The human rights defenders are not aware of the details of the charge; it is still unсlear which deed or activity brought Syarhei in the crosshairs of the regime.
On Tuesday, judge Katsyaryna Murashka passed a guilty verdict in the case and sentenced Syarhei Shpak to three years of restriction of liberty without being sent to a correctional facility (i.e. sort of house arrest).
Syarhei Shpak had served in the armed forces for 28 years. He has four children, two of whom are minors.
In May 2021, over 80 reps of Belarus uniformed services, including Syarhei Shpak, were stripped of ranks at Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s order. Most of them are officers of the Interior Ministry, but there are also former military personnel and KGB employees.
According to Lukashenka, ‘during the exacerbation’ [i.e. post-protests – Belsat], some military and law enforcement officials took a number of actions to aggravate the socio-political situation yet more. The politician holds a grudge against them over their ‘participating in unauthorised gatherings’, ‘posting extremist materials on the Internet, calling for radical action’, ‘publishing personal data of officials, journalists’, some showed ‘disrespect for state symbols’ by throwing their uniforms away or ripping off shoulder marks.
