Minsk City Court Hands Down In Absentia Sentences to Four Defendants

The Minsk City Court has handed down in absentia sentences to several defendants under special proceedings. The human rights center “Viasna” reported this. The trial against Andrei Balmakou, Yauheniya Tachytskaya, Katsiaryna Astrova and Antanina Naidovich began at the end of April.

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

According to human rights defenders, Yauheniya Tachytskaya was sentenced to five years of imprisonment. She had previously already been sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison. As a result, her total sentence amounted to 17 years in a general-regime penal colony and a fine of 67,000 rubles.

Katsiaryna Astrova was sentenced to five years in a general-regime penal colony and fined 27,000 rubles.

Antanina Naidovich was sentenced to six years in a general-regime penal colony and fined 29,250 rubles.

The sentence handed down to Andrei Balmakou is unknown.