Political prisoner Dzyanis Chykaliou sentenced to 3 years of restriction of liberty
On March 22, Frunzenski district court of Minsk completed hearing the case of 34-year-old political prisoner Dzyanis Chykaliou.
Judge Alena Bushava passed a guilty verdict and sentenced him to three years of restriction of liberty. Dzyanis will have to serve the term in an open-type correction facility.
The man has already spent seven months in custody. He was detained on August 10; at first, he was charged with ‘participating in mass riots’. Later, his acts were defined as ‘participating in actions that grossly violated public order’.
In accordance with the case file, Chykaliou, along with other protesters, ignored the police officers’ demands, grossly violated public order, chanted slogans and moved along Melnikaite, Zaslauskaya Streets, as well as along Victors’ and Masherau Avenues.
Dzyanis Chykaliou pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution says that Chykaliou’s activity resulted in disrupting the work of one city bus August 9, and the city transport agency Minsktrans assessed the damage caused at 6,126 rubles, but this lawsuit will be considered separately.
As of 22 March, 287 persons have been recognised as prisoners of conscience in Belarus.
On 9 August, the large-scale protests started in the country on the back of announcing the preliminary results of the 2020 presidential election; the major demands of Belarusians were Alyaksndr Lukashenka’s resignation; holding a free and fair election; releasing political prisoners; putting an end to police violence as well as bringing to justice those involved in battering and torturing peaceful demonstrators. There are at least seven death cases that are linked to the post-election protests. Several thousand detainees filed complaints against police officers’ illegal actions to the Investigative Committee. However, not a single criminal case has been opened over the citizens’ appeals.
