Former presidential candidate Dźmitryjeŭ released

April 20, Pozirk. Andrej Dźmitryjeŭ, who ran for president in 2020, has been after serving his sentence that human rights defenders consider politically motivated, a source told Pozirk on the condition of anonymity.

Dźmitryjeŭ, 42, has been in detention since January 11, 2023. Shortly after his arrest, the Investigative Committee said he had participated in post-election “riots” in Minsk and had “crossed Belarus’ state border 599 times, including 33 times since 2020.”

Investigators claimed that Dźmitryjeŭ’s contacts with people in the West testified to foreign coordination of his political activities.

On April 6, 2023, Minsk Judge Kaciaryna Muraška sentenced the politician to a year and a half in prison for allegedly disturbing public order.

According to Alaksandar Łukašenka’s election commission, Dźmitryjeŭ received just over one percent of the vote in the 2020 election.

The politician was a member of the Our Party organizing committee and co-chairman of the “Tell the Truth!” movement dissolved by authorities.

In August 2021, Dźmitryjeŭ was briefly detained amid a crackdown on media and NGOs.

During the 2010 presidential election, he managed the campaign of opposition candidate Uładzimir Niaklajeŭ. In May 2011, a Minsk judge imposed a two-year suspended sentence on him.

Also read: Former presidential hopeful Dźmitryjeŭ sentenced to 18 months in prison