The Minsk Regional Court has sentenced the parents of Aliaksandr Lipski, who was killed during his arrest in 2024. They were sentenced to 22 and 24 years in prison. The verdict has not yet entered into legal force and may be appealed.
Aliaksandr Lipski was identified as the leader of an organised criminal group, while his parents were found to have been members of the group. Criminal proceedings against their son were discontinued following his death.
The couple was charged with offences related to the illegal trafficking of weapons and their components, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices, as well as preparing the murders of 42 people.
According to the case materials, in 2019 Aliaksandr Lipski was tried for intentionally inflicting moderately serious bodily harm and aggravated hooliganism following a conflict with a neighbour. The court sentenced him to imprisonment, but he managed to evade custody. Around the same time, his mother also disappeared. His father claimed that he had not seen his son since 2018 or his wife since 2020. Investigators later concluded that these statements were false.
In November 2021, an unidentified assailant killed a 33-year-old woman in an apartment on Rokasouski Street in Minsk. The victim’s husband escaped by jumping from the fifth-floor balcony. The attacker fled, but investigators later identified him as Aliaksandr Lipski.
In August 2024, investigators received information that he was living with his parents in an apartment in Minsk. Officers entered the apartment with the assistance of OMON special police units. Lipski’s father claimed that he lived alone, but officers noticed a concealed hatch on the balcony. When they opened it, Lipski, who was hiding inside, opened fire. He was killed in the ensuing exchange of gunfire.
According to investigators, Lipski and his parents planned to take revenge on everyone connected with the 2019 case. Their list included 42 people: victims and their relatives, investigators, police officers, prosecutors, judges, neighbours who had testified as witnesses, and doctors who had treated the victims.
To carry out their plans, the family allegedly relied on extensive concealment measures, including wigs, walking sticks and changing clothes in public. The father’s car was covered with coloured film, while its registration plates and manufacturer emblem were altered. They also used covert communication methods, purchasing more than 25 mobile phones and around 50 SIM cards registered to different individuals, including foreign nationals.
Investigators said the family conducted surveillance of their intended targets, documenting their places of residence, the presence of surveillance cameras, additional building exits, apartment and window locations, removing delivery notices from mailboxes, and gathering information from open sources. They allegedly used video cameras, binoculars, night-vision devices and universal intercom keys for surveillance. While abroad, the family purchased a blank-firing pistol and ammunition, converted them for live fire, and also manufactured explosive devices.
During questioning, the Lipski couple denied all charges, claiming that the weapons and their son’s body had been planted in their apartment.