A criminal case has been opened against former political prisoner Illia Mironau under the article on laundering proceeds obtained through criminal activity (Part 1 of Article 235 of the Criminal Code).
Mironau’s photograph has been placed on an information board at the Homiel District Internal Affairs Department.
“This is an obvious attempt by the Lukashenka regime to shift political persecution into the economic sphere. The logic of the punitive authorities is simple: if I helped people, then I must have been ‘laundering money’. But the truth is that all of my so-called ‘criminal activity’ after being released from SIZO-3 in Homiel consisted of open civic solidarity:
1. I transferred money to those who remained behind bars.
2. I wrote letters of support and paid bills for my own detention in the temporary detention facility.
3. I monitored court hearings and shared the information obtained with independent media and human rights defenders.
While in Lithuania, I continue to support independent media, human rights defenders and the Armed Forces of Ukraine (including Belarusian volunteers),” Mironau wrote on Facebook.
The activist believes the new criminal case was opened to discredit the idea of helping others and restrict his activities abroad.
“My conclusion is simple: accusations of ‘money laundering’ are an admission of the powerlessness of Lukashenka’s criminal regime. They cannot stop solidarity, so they are trying to criminalise it.
I continue my work, studies and support for those who are currently facing the greatest difficulties. No wanted notices on the walls of police departments will change the fact that helping people is not a crime but the duty of every decent person,” Mironau wrote.
Illia Mironau is an activist from Homiel. In 2022, he was sentenced to 1.5 years in a penal colony under the article on discrediting Belarus. Mironau was released in the courtroom because his time in pre-trial detention had been counted toward his sentence. After that, he was detained several times under administrative charges. Mironau later left Belarus.
