Political Prisoner Yauhen Prapolski Was Added 1.5 Years In Prison
- 26.07.2023, 11:50
There has been no news from him for over a month.
On May 3, 2023, the Babruisk City and District Court heard a new criminal case against political prisoner Yauhen Prapolski. Judge Pavel Kartsinin found the political prisoner guilty under Art. 411 of the Criminal Code (malicious disobedience to the demands of the administration of the correctional institution) and added a year and a half to his eight years in prison.
He was transferred to penal colony #20 in the city of Mazyr in late May. However, there has not been a single word from him since June 14, according to human rights activists.
Yauhen was detained on September 29, 2020. Lukashenka's TV showed him in their video called "The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus Identifies Administrators of Anonymous Chats and Protesters."
On July 19, 2021, the political prisoner was sentenced to 8 years in prison in the case of “chat participants”. He was found guilty under Part 1 of Art. 13 and Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code (preparation for participation in mass riots in Minsk), and part 1 of Art. 13 and part 3 of Art. 218 of the Criminal Code (“preparation for intentional destruction or damage to property”).
The political prisoner spoke about the torture during the hearings:
“I was forced to make a plea of guilty for the head of the Investigative Committee. They threatened, tortured and electroshocked me. I did not write a statement voluntarily. Then I faced health problems: it was bad, my head was spinning and my leg was beaten off.”
They sent Prapolski to serve his term in the Bobruisk penal colony #2. It is known that from the very beginning, the administration of the penal colony put pressure on him. According to human rights activists, he spent at least 130 days in a punishment cell, and was also sent to a cell-type premise (PKT) for three months.
In addition, at the initiative of the administration of the penal colony, a criminal case was opened against Prapolski for “malicious disobedience to the demands of the administration of the correctional institution” (Article 411 of the Criminal Code). Again, "violations" of the internal regulations became the grounds for the new case, although Yauhen had already served this in a punishment cell and cell-type premise.
According to the files of the case, Yauhen faced these penalties because he “was lying down on the floor of a punishment cell” and “adamantly refused to clean the corridor of the detachment’s boarding school, residential section and the local site” as well as “refused to take the sleeping place allotted to him in the residential section” and “did not say hello when meeting a representative of the administration of the colony.”
The trial of Yevgeny took place at an off-site meeting in the Bobruisk colony. Propolsky did not admit his guilt at the trial and confirmed that he once lay on the floor of the cell, but did not allow other violations. He does not agree with the disciplinary sanctions imposed on him in the form of “24 hours” in a punishment cell, but he did not appeal against them.
On May 3, 2023, Judge Pavel Kartsinin found the political prisoner guilty under Art. 411 of the Criminal Code and added a year and a half to his eight years in prison.
Taking into account the time served and the new sentence, at the beginning of May, Yauhen had to serve five years and six months in prison.
The political prisoner did not appeal against the new sentence, he was transferred to Mazyr colony #20 in late May. According to human rights activists, there has been no news from him since June 14.
Support Yauhen with postcards, letters and telegrams: Penal colony #20, 247755, Homel region, Mazyr district, 70 Mikhalkauski village council, Yauhen Prapolski.