Дмитрий Болкунец.
On May 25, the Minsk City Court sentenced political analyst Dzmitry Balkunets in absentia to 12 years in a medium-security penal colony. The verdict was delivered under special proceedings, a procedure applied to defendants located outside Belarus.
As the human rights centre Viasna reports, Balkunets was also fined 5,000 basic units, equivalent to 225,000 Belarusian roubles.
The political analyst was found guilty under eight articles of the Criminal Code, including “conspiracy to seize power”, “calls for sanctions”, “creation of an extremist formation”, “facilitating extremist activity”, as well as “defamation” and “insult” against Aliaksandr Lukashenka. The charges also included insulting a government official and “discrediting Belarus”.
Previously, Belarusian prosecutors alleged that Balkunets had published at least 28 materials that allegedly contained calls for the seizure of power, violent change of the constitutional order and the imposition of sanctions against Belarus.
In addition, investigators claimed that the analyst led an organisation designated in Belarus as an “extremist formation” — the “Forum of Democratic Forces of Belarus”. According to the prosecution, he also published materials on Telegram and YouTube channels containing what authorities described as “knowingly false” information about Lukashenka, including allegations that he had committed especially serious crimes.
In recent years, the Belarusian authorities have actively used the special proceedings mechanism to issue in absentia verdicts against opponents of the government, journalists, analysts and representatives of democratic forces living abroad.