Dzmitryi Shauchenka
in custody pending trial
Date of birth: 5 July 1975
Date of detention: 4 April 2023
Charges indicted:
Art. 368 of the Criminal Code — Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus
Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code — Creation of an extremist formation, or participation in it
Art. 130 of the Criminal Code — Incitement to hatred
Sentence: 1 1/2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Judge: Vadzim Bobyrau
Prison: Pre-trial detention center No. 3
Dzmitryi Shauchenka is a craftsman from Homieĺ, he was engaged in making wooden toys. He administered an artisans' community with about 6,000 members in the VK social network.
In 2020, he started posting critical messages about the situation with the presidential elections in Belarus and renamed the community as "Belarus without rudeness". After 2021, the activity in the community decreased, but after the start of the hostilities in Ukraine, Dzmitryi Shauchenka began speaking out against the war in his posts. As a result, the community was recognized as an "extremist formation".
On April 4, 2023, Dzmitryi Shauchenka was arrested and sent to serve those 15 days of administrative imprisonment, to which he had been previously sentenced. However, he was not released after his arrest. The investigator of the local Investigation Committee department confirmed that criminal proceedings were conducted under Article 361-1 of the Criminal Code ('Creation of an extremist formation or participation in it'). Dzmitryi Shauchenka is now in remand prison #3 in Homieĺ.
