Andrei Savitski
Political prisoner
Date of detention: 9 August 2024
Charges indicted:
- Art. 368 of the Criminal Code — Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus
- аrt. 130-2 of the Criminal Code — Denial of the genocide of the Belarusian people
Sentence: 3 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Prison sentence start date: 29 November 2024
Judge: Yauhen Pisarevich
According to the prosecution's version, from October 2020 to November 2023, Andrei Savitski "administered an open group in Odnoklassniki". There he posted several publications with a "negative assessment of Lukashenka", as well as a publication in which he "denied the massacre of the peaceful inhabitants of the village of Khatyn by soldiers of the 118th Security Police Battalion and the Dirlewanger SS Special Battalion as a result of a punitive operation on March 22, 1943".
It is known that the man was arrested in February. The arrest was carried out by GUBOPiK and SOBR officers.
On October 30, 2024, the Minsk City Court pronounced the first conviction in Belarus for "denying the genocide of the Belarusian people" (Part 1 of Article 130-2 of the Criminal Code). Andrei Savitski was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, having also been accused of "insulting" Lukashenka (Part 1 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code). The sentence was handed down by Yauhen Pisarevich.
