Human rights defender sentenced to 15 years in anarchists’ case

September 6, BPN. The Minsk City Court’s Judge Siarhiej Chrypač has imposed lengthy prison sentences on two human rights defenders and eight anarchist activists, the Viasna Human Rights Center reports.

Viasna’s coordinator Marfa Rabkova was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and its volunteer Andrej Čapiuk to six.

The judge handed down 17 years on Alaksandr Franckievič, 16 years on Akichira Hajeŭski-Chanada, 12 years on Alaksiej Hałaŭko, six years on Pavieł Špietny, Mikita Draniec and Alaksandr Kaźlanka, and five years on Andrej Marač and Daniła Čul.

The judge also punished the ten with hefty fines.

They went on trial on April 25 behind closed doors, on charges widely seen as politically motivated, from creating an extremist organization to organizing riots and inciting hatred.

Rabkova has been in custody since her arrest on September 17, 2020. The Investigative Committee said she and two other defendants created and headed “a number of organized crime groups that had independently-led cells in Belarus’ regions.”