Paliyenka told about it in a letter to Maryna Kasinerava. She later published this information on Facebook.
According to the letter, Paliyenka was prosecuted under Articles 341 (for graffiti in Kurapaty) and 369 (for insulting former Interior Minister Ihar Shunevich).
The first article provides for community service, a fine or arrest, the other – community service, a fine, correctional work for up to two years, arrest or restriction of freedom for up to three years.
Three more cases have been brought against Paliyenka:
under Article 130 – for inciting enmity towards police officers. The sanction of the article provides for a fine, arrest, restriction or deprivation of freedom from one year to five years;
under Part 3 of Article 339 – for hooliganism (according to Paliyenka and his friends, it was self-defense against a drunk attacker). The sanction provides for the restriction of liberty from three to five years or deprivation of liberty from three to ten years;
and one more – under Art. 341 – for graffiti “The Cops Kill People”.
According to the Investigative Committee, on March 13th , Zmitser Paliyenka sprayed pepper gas from a can in the face of a man who allegedly reprimanded him for smoking at the entrance to the building (according to Paliyenka’s friends, it was self-defense from a drunk attacker).
On March 20, Paliyenka was detained. A week later, it became known that he was on a hunger strike behind bars.
He was charged only on April 5 (although he should have been charged within 10 days).
On 2 July, the Investigative Committee reported that the investigation into the criminal case of Zmitser Palienko had been completed and it was transfered to the Prosecutor’s Office for submission to the court.
On 16 July it became known that the Prosecutor’s Office returned the case of Paliyenka to the Zavadski District Department of the Investigative Committee for further preliminary investigation.
In 2016, Paliyenka was convicted of “violence or threat of violence against an employee of the Interior Ministry” and “production and distribution of pornographic materials or items of a pornographic nature. He was released in October 2018.
The international human rights organization Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience. He pleaded not guilty. Belarusian human rights activists demanded the release of the activist. His sentence was called politically motivated.
