Akikhiro Hayeuski-Hanada
Prisoner
Date of birth: 18 June 2000
Date of detention: 12 August 2020
Charges indicted:
- Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code — Organization of riots
- Part 3 of Art. 293 of the Criminal code — Training or other preparation of persons for participation in mass riots, or financing of this activity
- Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
- Art. 361 of the Criminal Code — Calls for actions aimed at causing harm to the national security of the Republic of Belarus
- Art. 218 of the Criminal Code — Intentional destruction or damage to property committed in a generally dangerous manner or causing damage on a large scale
- Part 2 of Art. 339 of the Criminal Code — Hooliganism committed by a group of persons
- Art. 341 of the Criminal Code — Desecration of structures and damage to property
- Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code — Creation of an extremist formation, or participation in it
- Art. 130 of the Criminal Code — Incitement to hatred
- Part 3 of Art. 339 of the Criminal Code — Especially malicious hooliganism
- Art. 295-3 of the Criminal Code — Illegal actions in relation to objects which action is based on use of combustible substances
- Part 1 of Art. 285 of the Criminal Code - Creation of a criminal organization or its leadership
- Part 1 of Article 13 and Article 293 of the Criminal Code — Preparation for mass riots
Sentence: 15 years and 9 months
Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony
Prison sentence start date: 11 March 2023
Judge: Siarhei Khrypach
Prosecutor: Raman Biziuk
Prison: Penal colony No. 17
Cases: "Revolutionary Action"
Groups: Activists
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Claudia Müller, member of the German Bundestag
Akikhiro Hayeuski-Hanada, an activist in an anarchist movement, was arrested on August 12.
He was charged under Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code, "participation in riots."
He was initially held in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Minsk but later was transferred to pre-trial prison No. 8 in Žodzina.
On January 28, the authorities said that Hayeuski-Hanada, as well as other political prisoners Aliaksandr Frantskevich and Andrei Chapiuk, were targeted in a new criminal case under Part 2 of Art. 285 of the Criminal Code, "participation in a criminal organization in any other form."
At the end of November 2021 it was reported that he was charged with a number of other articles of the Criminal Code:
- Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code — Organization of riots
- Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code — Participation in riots
- Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
- Art. 361 of the Criminal Code — Calls for actions aimed at causing harm to the national security of the Republic of Belarus
- Part 2 of Art. 339 of the Criminal Code — Hooliganism committed by a group of persons
- Art. 341 of the Criminal Code — Desecration of structures and damage to property
- Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code — Creation of an extremist formation, or participation in it
- Art. 130 of the Criminal Code — Incitement to hatred
On April 25, 2022, the trial commenced in Minsk Municipal Court. Prosecutor Andrei Buhuk requested a hearing in a closed session, because “there are materials of extremist nature in the materials of the criminal case”. The judge granted his petition and decided to close the hearing. All attendees were ordered out of the courtroom.
Four and a half months later, on September 6, 2022, Hayeuski-Hanada was sentenced to 16 years in a medium-security penal colony and a fine of 22,400 Belarusian rubles (more than $8,800).
On February 28, 2023, the Supreme Court considered the appeals, behind closed doors. The Judicial Collegium chaired by Judge Aliaksei Rybakou, dismissed the complaints of the six defendants. The sentences for Marfa Rabkova and Andrei Chapiuk, as well as for the anarchist movement activists Akikhiro Hayeuski-Hanada and Aliaksandr Frantskevich were reduced by three months. Thus, the final sentence for Akikhiro Hayeuski-Hanada is 15 years and 9 months of imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony.
The trial of Marfa Rabkova, Andrei Chapiuk and eight other political prisoners to be held behind closed doors
Viasna member Marfa Rabkova gets 15 years in jail, volunteer Andrei Chapiuk—6
