Political prisoner Dzmitry Lukashevich sentenced to 3 years in prison for burning effigies of officials near Mahilioŭ

The Mahilioŭ District Court sentenced 46-year-old political prisoner Dzmitry Lukashevich to three years in a general-security penal colony, finding him guilty of two crimes: Part 2 of Art. 339 (malicious hooliganism) and Part 2 of Art. 368 (insulting the president). The man was convicted of making and burning several effigies referring to government officials, including Aliaksandr Lukashenka.

The court was held behind closed doors, after Judge Maksim Kurpachanka granted the public prosecutor’s request citing a need to protect several witnesses involved in another similar trial.

Lukashevich has been detained since March 2. The leading human rights organizations of Belarus condemned the charges as politically motivated and called the defendant a political prisoner.

Earlier, three other defendants in the case, political prisoners Siarhei Skok, Maksim Siarheyenka and Volha Klimkova, were sentenced to 3 to 3 1/2 years in prison.