In May, 2011 three anarchists were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment (from 3 to 8 years). They were adjudged guilty of arsoning the Russian Embassy building in Minsk.
On August 30th, 2010 unknown perpetrators threw Molotov cocktails at the Russian embassy building. As a result, an embassy employee’s car was damaged. Anarchists were also charged with attempt to burn the Ministry of Defense building, Minsk’s casino Shangri-la, Minsk-Moscow bank, and a building of the Trade Unions Federation.
Three defendants were sentenced to imprisonment in high-security correctional institutions: Ihar Alinevich to 8 years, Mikalai Dziadok to 4.5 years, Aliaksandr Frantskevich to 3 years. They did not plead guilty to the charges.
According to a human rights defender Aleh Hulak, the Belarusian authorities violated law by arresting the same suspects numerous times on the ground of different charges, just to extend their stay in detention. In his opinion, the authorities wanted to exert pressure on the defendants.
The arrest of the suspects did not prevent further arsoning. Soon unidentified individuals threw fiery bottles at the building of the Minsk City court where ex-presidential candidate Andrey Sannikau was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment the day before.
Viasna human rights center recognised three anarchists as political prisoners.
