{"id":45073,"date":"2022-12-26T17:51:22","date_gmt":"2022-12-26T14:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/articles\/sports-foundation-leaders-sentenced-in-absentia-for-advocating-sanctions\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"sports-foundation-leaders-sentenced-in-absentia-for-advocating-sanctions","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/45073\/","title":{"rendered":"Sports foundation leaders sentenced in absentia for advocating sanctions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>December 26, <span>BPN.<\/span><\/b> The Minsk City Court has announced its first sentences in a special procedure case, the Viasna Human Rights Center reports.<\/p>\n<p> Judge \u015aviat\u0142ana Bandarenka sentenced two founders of the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation (BSSF)&nbsp;to 12 years in prison without defendants being present at the trial.<\/p>\n<p> She found three-time Olympic medalist Alaksandra Hierasimenia and handball club Vityaz\u2019s former director Alaksandr Apiejkin guilty of calling for sanctions to be imposed on Belarus.<\/p>\n<p> Human rights activists say the court ordered the seizure of&nbsp;over $48,000 on Hierasimenia\u2019s accounts, an apartment, a car, a parking lot and multiple pieces of equipment. All this property will reportedly be sold to cover the legal costs.<\/p>\n<p> The prosecutors argued that BSSF, created in August 2020, was not duly registered in Belarus. It disseminated \u201cdeliberately false information and fabrications about the events that took place in Belarus before and after the presidential election,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p> Its founders appealed to \u201cgovernments, foreign and international organizations and entities,\u201d initiating \u201csanctions against the National Olympic Committee of Belarus and other sports organizations,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p> The activists campaigned to prevent the Belarusian team from competing in the Olympics under the national state flag, they added.<\/p>\n<p> Their activities, according to the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office, \u201ccontributed to the cancellation of several sporting events and damaged Belarus\u2019 national security politically and socially.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Investigators said the material damage from BSSF\u2019s activities exceeded 800,000 rubels (over $300,000 at the current exchange rate). <\/p>\n<p> The Investigative Committee opened the special procedure case against the BSSF founders on September 29. The trial in absentia began on December 19.<\/p>\n<p> Special procedure allows the government to try emigrants in absentia, potentially depriving them of citizenship.<\/p>\n<p> Hierasimenia left the foundation in spring 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 26, BPN. The Minsk City Court has announced its first sentences in a special procedure case, the Viasna Human Rights Center reports. Judge \u015aviat\u0142ana Bandarenka sentenced two founders of the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation (BSSF)&nbsp;to 12 years in prison without defendants being present at the trial. She found three-time Olympic medalist Alaksandra Hierasimenia and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-45073","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry","rubric-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sports foundation leaders sentenced in absentia for advocating sanctions | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"December 26, BPN. The Minsk City Court has announced its first sentences in a special procedure case, the Viasna Human Rights Center reports. 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