Ales Papkovich
Date of birth: 22 February 1990
Date of detention: 2 September 2022
Charges indicted:
Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
Sentence: 2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Judge: Dzmitryi Astapenka
Prison: Penal colony No. 3
Ales Papkovich was detained along with his brother, Yan Papkovich, on September 2, 2022. He was beaten during the arrest.
Ales Papkovich was charged under Article 342 of the Criminal Code ('Active participation in group actions grossly breaching public order') for his participation in the 2020 protests.
The trial began on December 5, 2022 in the Zavodski District Court of Minsk. Judge Dzmitryi Astapenka sentenced Papkovich to two years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony.
In late January 2023, it became known that the political prisoner was transferred to penal colony #3 (in Vićba, Viciebsk Region)—despite his sentence had not yet entered into force. There, he was immediately placed in a tighter security cell. After he filed the appeal, he was transferred in quarantine. Besides, Papkovich had to sign a document stating that he was not going to leave Belarus after his release.
On March 3, 2023, Ales Papkovich was included in the 'List of citizens of Belarus, foreign citizens, and stateless persons involved in extremist activities'.
