Aliaksandr Ihnatsiuk
in custody
Date of birth: 12 October 1971
Date of detention: 18 July 2023
Charges indicted:
Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
Art. 367 of the Criminal Code — Slander against the President of the Republic of Belarus
part 2 of Article 208 of the Criminal Code — Extortion committed as a second offence, or by a group of persons, or accompanied by violence
Sentence: 6 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony
Judge: Siarhei Nasenia
Prison: Pre-trial detention center No. 7
Aliaksandr Ihnatsiuk is a freelance journalist from Paliessie. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, in Stolin, Brest region, he published an independent regional newspaper Evening Stolin and was its editor-in-chief. In 2003, he was sentenced to a large fine, the Ministry of Information suspended the publication of his newspaper several times, and as a result, the newspaper was closed.
Later, Ihnatsiuk created the website About Stolin, which worked until recently. He was engaged in journalism and blogging.
In July 2023, Aliaksandr Ihnatsiuk was arrested on charges of 'supporting extremist activities' under Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code.
On March 15, 2024, the first hearing was held in the court of the Stolin District under the following articles of the Criminal Code: Part 2 of Article 208 (extortion); Part 1 of Article 342 (organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them), Part 2 of Article 367 (slander against Lukashenka). Siarhei Nasenia was appointed as a judge.
The verdict was pronounced on April 5, 2024. The political prisoner was found guilty of organizing protests in Stolin and Minsk, slandering Lukashenka and extortion. At the trial, Aliaksandr pleaded guilty in part to the first charge, but not to extortion. The judge sentenced him to six years in a medium-security penal colony and a fine of 200 basic units (Br 8,000).
