Andrei Novikau
volunteer of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's nomination group, served full term, released and deported to Russia
Former prisoner
Date of birth: 18 September 1970
Date of detention: 13 April 2021
Charges indicted:
- Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
- Art. 371 of the Criminal Code — Illegal crossing of the state border of the Republic of Belarus
Sentence: 2 1/2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Date of release: 31 October 2022
Judge: Sniazhana Kindzeyeva
Notes: Detention upon return to Belarus, Foreign citizens
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Tomasz Frankowski, member of the European Parliament
Andrei Novikau is a citizen of the Russian Federation, a volunteer of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's nomination group.
He was detained on June 6, 2020, in the village of Prusy, Pastavy district, Viciebsk region, for participating in the May 29 picket in Hrodna. He was first charged under Art. 23.34 of the Administrative Code (illegal protesting), and then it became known that he was taken to the Minsk detention center, and then to pre-trial prison No. 1. On June 12, Novikau faced charges under Part 1 of Art. 342 of the Criminal Code (organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order).
On November 26, Novikau was released from pre-trial detention and deported to Russia.
Andrei Novikau was again detained on April 13, 2021, in Pastavy, where he had secretly came to visit his wife and children. Novikau was charged with Art. 371 of the Criminal Code ("Illegal crossing of the state border of the Republic of Belarus"). The charge under Art. 342 of the Criminal Code was not dropped either. The political prisoner was remanded in pre-trial prison No. 2 in Viciebsk and later transferred to pre-trial detention No. 1 in Minsk.
On August 5, 2021, the Kastryčnicki District Court of Viciebsk sentenced Andrei Novikau to two and a half years in a general-security penal colony.
The punishment is partial addition of two sentences: two years of imprisonment under Part 1 of Art. 342 (organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them) and one year in prison under Part 2 of Art. 371 (illegal crossing of the state border of the Republic of Belarus) of the Criminal Code.
Novikau served his sentence in full and was released on October 31, 2022. The man was immediately deported to Russia and handed over to the FSB.
