Coup d’état trial ends in long prison terms

September 5, BPN. The Minsk Regional Court’s Judge Uładzimir Areška on September 5 imposed prison sentences on five defendants in a high-profile coup d’état case, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

Belarusian-born US lawyer Juryj Ziankovič was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Literature critic and political scientist Alaksandr Fiaduta and Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) chairman Ryhor Kastusioŭ were given 10 years each. Accountant Volha Hałubovič and a truck driver, Dzianis Kraŭčuk, are to spend two-and-a-half years behind bars.

Ziankovič, Fiaduta and Kastusioŭ were found guilty of conspiracy to seize state power in an unconstitutional way.

Ziankovič’s other offenses included incitement to hatred and leading the “extremist” group, the judge ruled. The lawyer had signed a pre-trial agreement with investigators, pleaded guilty and helped investigators gather evidence against other defendants. This usually leads to a reduced sentence.

Fiaduta pleaded guilty but denied “base motives.” Kastusioŭ, who is suffering from cancer, pleaded not guilty. He said he had participated in conspirators’ Zoom calls as a listener.

Hałubovič and Kraŭčuk were convicted of gross violations of public order.

The other suspects in the case were psychiatrist Dźmitryj Ščyhielski, former police official Ihar Makar, as well as Alaksandr Pierapiečka, Pavieł Kułažanka and Vital Makaranka.