Minsk City Court Begins Trial in Absentia Against Four People

The Minsk City Court is beginning to hear a case against four people under special proceedings.

As the Viasna Human Rights Center reported, today the court will begin trying in absentia Andrei Balmakou, Yauheniya Tachytskaya, Katsiaryna Astrova and Antanina Naidovich.

All four are charged under Part 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (“Facilitating extremist activity”), while Antanina is additionally charged under Article 369 (“Insulting a representative of the authorities”).

Yauheniya Tachytskaya has already been convicted in absentia in the case concerning the sabotage of the A-50 early warning aircraft at the Machulishchy airfield.