Jahor Marcinovič, Naša Niva website editor-in-chief, and Andrei Skurko, former editor, sentenced to 2.5 years in prison

March 15, BPN. On March 15, the Zavadzski District Court of Minsk sentenced Jahor Marcinovič, Naša Niva website editor-in-chief, and Andrei Skurko, the former editor, to 2.5 years in prison.

Judge Anžela Kasciukievič passed the sentence requested by prosecutor Mikalaj Dziaciel on March 14. Marcinovič and Skurko were found guilty of “causing property damage without signs of theft, committed by a group of persons by prior agreement, on a large scale” (Article 216, part 2 of the Criminal Code).

Naša Niva journalists were were convicted because from May 2017 to June 2021, the apartment belonging to Skurko housed “offices <…> for entrepreneurial activities,” while utilities were paid at the rates used for the population at residential premises, not for legal entities. The prosecution considered that Minskenergo and Minskvodakanal, communal services providers in the city, have “suffered damages of over 10 thousand rubles,” which Skurko and Marcinovič “reimbursed in full.”

Skurko stated in court that the accusations were groundless.

Marcinovič and Skurko remain in custody since July 8, 2021. Both are recognized as political prisoners.

In January, Naša Niva employees were recognized as an “extremist formation.”