The father of six children sentenced to jail
On June 16, a Zavodski District Court of Minsk Judge Aleh Kaliada sentenced the political prisoner Aliaksandr Zialiutkin to three and a half years in a medium-security penal colony. Zialiutkin was accused under Part 2 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code (participation in riots) in connection with the events of 10 August near the shopping center Riga in Minsk, when a violent confrontation occurred between the police and protesters.
- Political prisoner Aliaksandr Zialiutkin
Before his imprisonment, Aliaksandr Zialiutkin worked as a masonry stove builder and was a member of the Belarusian masonry stove Center. In November 2021, he participated in the OKTOBER stove festival, and in September 2021 he represented the modern stove construction at a construction exhibition. All of this can be found on his social media page. It also reads:
“Do what you believe in, believe in what you do! Belarusian Masonry Stove Centre”
Aliaksandr Zialiutkin is also the father of six children: four boys and two girls, all of them minors. Two of the children have disabilities. Aliaksandr was the sole breadwinner in the family.
He was detained on December 7, 2021, in front of his children. During his detention in February 2021, he was put in solitary confinement for 10 days. In protest, he went on a hunger strike for eight days. On the eighth day, Aliaksandr was released from the punishment cell and transferred to a regular cell.
