Children's Football Coach Sentenced To Prison For Participating In Protests In Minsk

• 13.03.2023, 17:22

The verdict was handed down by Judge Lidziya Tselitsa.

Children's football coach Aleh Shvaiko has been sentenced in the Maskouski district court of Minsk, human rights activists report. Judge Lidziya Tselitsa found the political prisoner guilty under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code for the 2020 protests, and sentenced the man to two years of imprisonment in a penal colony. In addition, she filed a claim for “blocking roads” in the amount of 69,000 rubles in a separate civil proceeding.

Aleh Shvaiko was detained on November 4, 2022 and sentenced to 10 days of administrative arrest, after which he was transferred to a pre-trial detention center in the framework of a criminal case.

Aleh Shvaiko, 36, coached children at the Minsk football club and was also the administrator of the Minsk FC women's team. It is known that he expressed an active position on the events in Belarus in 2020.

At the end of 2021, the coach left the Minsk FC structure, and in 2022 he ended up on an internship at another school. There he worked with boys aged 8-10, helping more experienced colleagues. In October 2022, Shvaiko signed a contract with the Vasilevsky private football school. The Minsk organization introduced the new coach on social media on October 20, just a few weeks before his arrest.

You can support the political prisoner by writing him a letter at the following address: pre-trial detention center #1, 220030, Valadarski Street, 2, Minsk, Belarus Aleh Aliaksandravich Shvaiko.