Aliaksandr Kazlianka
activist, sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment
Prisoner
Date of birth: 15 October 1983
Date of detention: 2 March 2021
Charges indicted:
- Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
- Part 2 of Art. 285 of the Criminal Code — Participation in a criminal organization in any other form
Sentence: 6 years
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. 1
Cases: "Revolutionary Action"
Groups: Activists
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Laila Naraghi, member of the Swedish Parliament
Aliaksandr Kazlianka is an activist and member of the Free Trade Union based in Brest. He has previously been repeatedly detained for participating in protests, including while campaigning against the local battery plant and against the 2017 "social parasites” decree.
On March 2, 2021, Aliaksandr's apartment was searched and he was detained.
Kazlianka was charged under Art. 342 of the Criminal Code (organization or active participation in group actions that grossly violate public order) and Part 2 of Art. 285 (creation of a criminal organization or participation in it). It is known that the charge under Art. 342 stems from a road blocking that took place in Brest in 2018. On May 5 of that year, anarchists blocked three lanes of the M1 highway, protesting against the construction of the battery plant. Meanwhile, Kazlianka's friends say that he did not take part in the protest.
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, Kazlianka was sentenced—he received six years in a medium-security penal colony and a fine of 16,000 Belarusian rubles (more than $6,300).
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