Another verdict passed in Zeltser case

On August 11, 2022, the Minsk Municipal Court sentenced political prisoner Vital Rohach. Rohach was accused of ‘organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate the public order’, ‘inciting hatred’, and ‘insulting a government official’ under Part 1 of Article 342, Part 1 of Article 130, and Article 369 of the Criminal Code accordingly.

Judge Valiantsina Ziankevich considered the case.

Political prisoner Vital Rohach, 30, was detained on September 29, 2021, and placed in pre-trial detention center.

Initially, the man was only charged with ‘incitement of hatred’ for his comment “Let the bandit rest in pieces” under the news about the death of a KGB officer in a fatal shooting in Andrei Zeltser’s apartment. "To a bandit, the earth will be concrete."

Soon, a ‘repentant’ video appeared, where Rohach was forced to plead guilty and repent. He was also forced to say that he “supported the LGBT community”—probably in order to humiliate—and promise to “mend his ways”.

In the course of the investigation, which lasted 11 months, investigators brought additional charges of insulting a government official and organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order.

The trial has been held in private.

The court found Rohach guilty on all counts and sentenced him to 2.5 years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony and a fine of 6,400 Belarusian rubles (2,500 US dollars).