Dzianis Varozau
sentenced to 5 years imprisonment
Prisoner
Date of birth: 25 June 1981
Date of detention: 3 September 2022
Charges indicted:
- Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code — Creation of an extremist formation, or participation in it
- Art. 361-4 of the Criminal Code — Promoting extremist activities
Sentence: 5 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony
Judge: Dzina Kuchuk
Prison: Penal colony No. 17
Notes: War in Ukraine
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Cem Özdemir is Germany’s Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture
Dzianis Varozau was arrested in early September 2022. He was taken into custody for hanging Ukrainian and Belarusian national flags on the facade of a high-rise building in Minsk, together with Viachaslau Pantsiushenka, Volha Tserakh, Uladzimir Lavor and Katsiaryna Zaretskaya. They were charged with hooliganism (Article 339 of the Criminal Code).
The cellmates of Dzianis Varozau told human rights defenders about his brutal arrest: "They took him to the forest and threatened to kill him."
Two weeks after their arrest, the Ministry of Internal Affairs recognized the Zello channel in which the defendants communicated during the organization of their antiwar action, as an "extremist formation".
Among the articles, under which the political prisoners were eventually accused, there was no "malicious hooliganism", for which they were arrested and placed in custody. They were charged with much more serious articles of the Criminal Code: Parts 1 and 3 of Article 361-1 (Creation of and participation in extremist formation) and Part 2 of Article 361-4 (Supporting extremist activities).
In March 2023, it became known that Dzianis Varozau was transferred from remand prison #8 in Žodzina, Minsk region, to remand prison #1 in Minsk.
The trial of the "flag case" began on March 20, 2023, in the Minsk City Court, behind closed doors. On April 6, 2023, Judge Dzina Kuchuk sentenced:
- Dzianis Varozau to five years imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony.
- Viachaslau Pantsiushenka to five years imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony.
- Volha Tserakh to five years imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony.
- Uladzimir Lavor to four years and nine months of imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony.
- Katsiaryna Zaretskaya to five years imprisonment in a general-security penal colony.
Shot in knees and jailed: what Belarusians risks for their anti-war stance
