{"id":175930,"date":"2026-02-16T22:20:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/175930\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"supreme-court-upholds-prison-terms-for-youths-accused-of-plotting-terrorist-acts-high-treason","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/175930\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court upholds prison terms for youths accused of plotting terrorist acts, high treason"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

February 16, Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>A panel of judges of the Supreme Court of Belarus has rejected an appeal against lengthy prison sentences imposed on a group of young people who had allegedly plotted terrorist attacks on instructions from the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Brest Regional Court earlier sentenced Maryya Mysyuk to 13 years in prison, Siarhiej \u017dyhalo\u016d and Trafim Barysa\u016d to 12 years in prison, D\u017amitryj Zacharo\u0161ka to 10 and a half years in prison, and Alaksandra Pulinovi\u010d to 10 years and three months in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public prosecutor claimed that the group had \u201ctaken actions to prepare for the illegal manufacture of a homemade explosive device\u201d and had \u201ccarried out reconnaissance to identify the most vulnerable place in the building of the Baranavi\u010dy district police station, whose destruction would have caused the most damage to the life and health of police officers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The accused disputed their charges and called for softer penalties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sentence has now taken effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the five young people, college students from Minsk and Brest regions, have been recognized as political prisoners by human rights defenders. Maryya Mysyuk, a citizen of Ukraine, was released and taken out of Belarus to Ukraine in November 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 13, the interior ministry added all those charged in the case to its list of \u201cextremists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The arrest of the young people was announced by the state television channel ONT <\/em>on April 29, 2024 in a documentary titled Children in the Crosshairs. Recruited by the Enemy<\/em>. The film said that Danii\u0142 Harasim, 19, is suspected of high treason for allegedly contacting the Kastu\u015b Kalino\u016dski Regiment fighting Russia in Ukraine and intentions to join it. The young man was forced to say on camera that he \u201ccontacted the special services of another country and handed over various kinds of information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harasim took pictures of military facilities in Asipovi\u010dy, Mahilo\u016d region, and is suspected of plotting acts of railroad sabotage, ONT<\/em> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukrainian national Maryya Mysyuk, 16, is known to have been held in a pre-trial detention center on terrorism-related charges. The documentary described the art college student as \u201ccommander of Black Nightingales terrorist cell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The documentary also featured footage Barysa\u016d\u2019s and \u017dyhalo\u016d\u2019s interrogations at the detention center. They were accused of plotting to blow up administrative buildings in Baranavi\u010dy, Brest region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 16-year-old Stanis\u0142a\u016d (last name unclear) from Mahilo\u016d was allegedly recruited by the SBU to commit crimes in Mahilo\u016d and Russia\u2019s Murmansk. It remains unclear whether he has been formally charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Viasna Human Rights Center, Pulinovi\u010d and Barysa\u016d were 16 and 17 years of age, respectively, at the time of their arrest in March 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the 2020 political crisis in Belarus and the start of Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine in 2022, the KGB has been using state-run television stations to make and broadcast propaganda films with unsubstantiated claims about alleged attackers trying to \u201cdestabilize\u201d Belarus with explosives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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