Aleh Rubets
tractor driver, football fan, sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison
Prisoner
Date of birth: 26 February 2002
Date of detention: 10 August 2020
Charges indicted:
- Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code — Participation in riots
- Art. 411 — Malicious disobedience to the demands of administration of the correctional institution
Sentence: 7 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a high security prison
Judge: Yauhen Brehan, Sviatlana Samuseva
Prison: Pre-trial detention center No. 8
Groups: Employees
Notes: Prison security level
Cases: Protests in Pinsk
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Dirk Wiese, member of the German Bundestag
Aleh Rubets graduated from a vocational school in Pinsk (Brest region) and worked as a tractor driver. He was arrested in Pinsk on August 10, 2020. He was badly beaten during the arrest. Aleh Rubets was suspected of participating in "mass riots" (Article 293 of the Criminal Code).
On April 30, 2021, the Maskoŭski District Court of Brest delivered a sentence in the criminal case against 14 political prisoners accused of participating in mass riots on the night of August 9-10 in Pinsk. Aleh Rubets was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months of imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony.
The relatives of Aleh Rubets reported that in February 2022, the administration of the penal colony in Navapolack (Viciebsk region) placed the political prisoner in a punishment cell for 40 days. After that, he was placed in a tighter security cell. Besides, he wrote in a letter that he was facing a new trial aiming to change his punishment level to a prison regime.
On May 12, 2022, Aleh Rubets was informed that a criminal case under Article 411 of the Criminal Code ('Malicious disobedience to demands of administration of penal institution') had been brought against him. On June 10, 2022, in Navapolack, Judge Volha Balika ruled to transfer Aleh Rubets to a maximum-security prison for three years.
In late June 2022, the political prisoner was transferred from penal colony #1 in Navapolack to prison #8 in Žodzina (Minsk region).
In late December 2022, Aleh Rubets was placed in a punishment cell for 60 days.
In May 2023, he wrote in a letter that he had been in a punishment cell for 40 consecutive days. In total, he was held in a punishment cell for almost 200 days over the past year.
In mid-July 2023, it became known that Aleh Rubets had been placed in a punishment cell.
At the end of August 2023, Aleh Rubets was placed in a punishment cell again:
"Two months! ... 60 days ... 1440 hours ... Alone, in a "stone bag"!
Aleh is back in a punishment cell. No correspondence, no calls, no books.
24/7 by himself with his thoughts, his dreams, his hopes, his disappointments, but not with a broken spirit!!!"
In mid-October 2023, it was reported that Aleh had been transferred to the medical unit after spending 90 days in a punishment cell. The prison administration declined to disclose the reason for Aleh's transfer to the medical unit or his diagnosis to his relatives.
At the end of 2023, it was reported that Aleh had been placed in a punishment cell again, with no specified term. Additionally, a new criminal case was filed against the political prisoner under Article 411 (malicious disobedience), which could result in additional two years of imprisonment. On February 27, 2024, Judge Sviatlana Samuseva considered the case. The verdict was announced on March 7, 2024, adding another year and a half of imprisonment to the initial five and a half years.
14 defendants in political trial get lengthy prison terms
