Dzmitry Kulakouski is former head of the criminal investigation department of the Zavodski District Police Department of Minsk. He resigned after the presidential election due to his disagreement with the authorities’ violent policies. In October, he was detained by the Interior Ministry’s internal security service and spent almost a month in a pre-trial detention center on charges of allegedly disobeying an official. During his stay in the pre-trial detention center, he was repeatedly subjected to torture and ill-treatment, according to his lawyer’s repeated complaints and media reports.

On December 4, Dzmitry Kulakouski was detained while trying to leave the Republic of Belarus. He was later remanded in the Žodzina pre-trial detention center as part of a criminal case under Art. 369 of the Criminal Code (insulting a government official).

On January 22, Judge Tatsiana Pirozhnikava of the Maskoŭski District Court of Minsk sentenced Dzmitry Kulakouski to two years’ imprisonment in an open-type penal facility (so-called “khimiya”). Kulakouski was released from custody immediately after the verdict was announced, but will remain under travel restrictions pending appeal hearings.