5 years in prison for political prisoner Ruslan Parfionau
Political prisoner Ruslan Parfionau on trial at the Mazyr District Court
Judge Anatol Strelchanka of the Mazyr District Court has sentenced political prisoner Ruslan Parfionau to five years in a medium-security penal colony, finding him guilty of “rioting” (Part 2 of Art. 293).
A member of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s nomination group, Parfionau was detained on August 6 and sentenced to 10 days in prison the following day. After serving his sentence, he was detained again and faced criminal charges. Following his transfer to the Minsk-based pre-trial prison No. 1, the country’s human rights community called Parfionau a political prisoner.
ONT, a government-owned TV channel, aired a story alleging that Parfionau was arrested for making homemade tire spikes to damage police vehicles. The video, however, featured a completely different person.
The trial was held behind closed doors.
