Andrei Maslau
sentenced to 2 1/2 years of imprisonment
Date of birth: 3 August 2003
Date of detention: 14 May 2022
Charges indicted:
Art. 411 — Malicious disobedience to the demands of administration of the correctional institution
Article 361-3 of the Criminal Code — Participation or preparing to participate in hostilities on foreign soil by a Republic of Belarus citizen
Sentence: 2 1/2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Judge: Siarhei Bieraziuk, Ina Kruhol
Prosecutor: Aliaksandr Marchanka
Prison: Penal colony No. 2
Andrei Maslau, a first-year student, was convicted for 'preparation for participation in an armed conflict on the territory of a foreign state' under Part 1 of Article 13 and Part 1 of Article 361-3 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to two years and six months of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony.
As Andrei Maslau said, he "wanted to help Ukraine". He was arrested in mid-May 2022, right near the Ukrainian border. His correspondence with the commander of the Kalinoŭski Regiment was found in his cell phone.
On August 26, 2022, Judge Siarhei Bieraziuk sentenced him to two years and six months of imprisonment.
In late October 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs included the political prisoner in the 'List of persons involved in extremist activities'.
Andrei Maslau was sent to penal colony #2 in Babrujsk (Mahilioŭ region) to serve his sentence. Human rights defenders learned that in late January 2023, the 19-year-old political prisoner was placed in a tighter security cell for a month.
On June 6, 2023, in Babrujsk, Andrei Maslau was to be tried under Part 1 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code for his "malicious disobedience to the requirements of the penitentiary administration". The case was to be heard by Judge Ina Kruhol.
