Convicted human rights defender Leanid Sudalenka transferred to penal colony in Vitsebsk

On January 26, human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka was transferred to the penal colony Vitsba-3 near the Belarusian city of Vitsebsk, the Telegram channel Look. News About Belarus reports with reference to Sudalenka’s family.

On 18 January 2021, the local police arrested Leanid Sudalenka, human rights defender and chairman of the Homieĺ branch of the human rights centre Viasna, and volunteers Tatsyana Lasitsa and Maryia Tarasenka). They were charged with ‘organisation and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order’ (Article 342-1 of the Criminal Code) and ‘training persons to participate in such actions, as well as their financing” (Article 342-2) and taken into custody (later, Tarasenka was released on her own recognizance).

On September 3, Sudalenka, Lasitsa, Tarasenka started to be tried in Homiel. In total, about 200 people were interrogated in the trial. 61 people testified in court – mostly clients who contacted the human rights activist seeking legal assistance.

“According to Sudalenka, the case file features such absurd accusations as buying firewood to a family whose father was convicted of ‘rioting’; appearing in a video on YouTube to explain the essence of peaceful assembly, a post on social media calling to meet a protester after term in a detention center, arranging a seminar on digital security for human rights defenders, and payment of fines, court fees and the services of lawyers,” the HRC Viasna reports.

In early November, judge Syarhei Salouski took heed of the prosecutors’ demands and sentenced Sudalenka and Lasitsa to 3 and 2.5 years of imprisonment in a minimum security penal colony, respectively.

belsat.eu