Andrei Padniabenny sentenced to 15 years in jail under ‘terrorist’ article
On June 30, the Homieĺ Regional Court pronounced the verdict in the criminal case against 33-year-old local resident Andrei Padniabenny.
He is a Russian citizen but has been living in Belarus since he was six years old and has a residence permit. Andrei was indicted behind closed doors under a number of serious articles of the Criminal Code of Belarus: Part 1 of Article 14 and Part 3 of Article 218 (attempt to deliberate destruction or damage to property of others); Part 1 of Article 361-1 (creation of an extremist group), Part 1 and Part 2 of Article 289 (an act of terrorism) for setting fire to the car of the head of the Department of Corrections, puncturing the tires of 39 trolleybuses, creating and administering a Telegram channel and a Telegram chat, which are recognized as extremist formations, as well as setting fire to a crane at a construction site in 2019. Judge Anatol Sotnikau sentenced Andrei, who has been in custody for seven months, to 15 years in a medium-security penal colony.
On May 23, the KGB put Andrei Padniabenny on the list of terrorists.