5 years in prison for political prisoner Ruslan Parfionau
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.