BelaPAN former CEO working at colony’s sewing shop

February 10, BPN. Former BelaPAN CEO Dźmitryj Navažyłaŭ has been assigned to the sewing shop after his release from quarantine at Penal Colony No 3 in Vićba, Viciebsk district.

Navažyłaŭ is one of the four convicts in the BelaPAN case. He is currently serving a six-year term on charges widely seen as politically motivated.

Authorities arrested him along with Iryna Leŭšyna, his successor at BelaPAN, in August 2021. In October 2022, judge Viačasłaŭ Tulejka of the Minsk Regional Court sentenced Leŭšyna to four years in prison; former deputy CEO Andrej Alaksandraŭ, to 14 years; his wife Iryna Złobina, to nine years.

The judge also fined Navažyłaŭ 22,400 rubels (some $8,900), Złobina 25,600 rubels and Alaksandraŭ 32,000 rubels.

Authorities accused them of establishing an extremist group (Alaksandraŭ, Leŭšyna, Navažyłaŭ), treason (Alaksandraŭ, Złobina), tax evasion (Alaksandraŭ, Navažyłaŭ), and organization of actions grossly disturbing public order (Alaksandraŭ and Złobina). Human rights groups consider all four political prisoners.

On January 6, The Supreme Court upheld the long prison sentences.

Leŭšyna and Złobina are held at women’s Penal Colony No 4 in Homiel; Alaksandraŭ, at Penal Colony No 1 in Navapołack, Viciebsk region.

The prison term of Leŭšyna expires in December 2024; of Navažyłaŭ, in December 2026; of Złobina, in January 2029; and of Alaksandraŭ, in January 2034.