Dzmitry Kubarau is a UX/UI designer. He was detained as a defendant in a criminal case on riots.

At first, he was a suspect under Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code ('Participation in riots'). Later the charge was reclassified to Part 2 of Art. 293 ('Organization of riots').

Kubarau was detained on August 11, 2020 and taken to the KGB prison. The same night, he was forced to sign a confession. His apartment was searched, after which security officers siezed a loudspeaker, medicines, water, IT equipment (a phone, a laptop), and canisters with solvent and turpentine, which were used to renovate the apartment. Later, Dzmitry Kubarau pleaded not guilty in court, saying that his confession was extorted by torture.

On March 24, 2021, Judge Dzmitryi Lukashevich of the Frunzienski District Court of Minsk sentenced Dzmitry Kubarau to 7 years of imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony. That was the very punishment required by the assistant prosecutor Alina Kasiyanchyk the day before.

On September 27, 2021, the Zavodski District Court of Minsk handed down a verdict in a new trial against Dzmitry Kubarau, sentencing him to 3 years in prison for “illegal actions with objects whose damaging effect is based on the use of combustible substances” (Article 295-3 of the Criminal Code), namely for storing in his apartment flammable fluid, which the prosecution said he had intended to use in order to make Molotov cocktails. The aggregate sentence for the political prisoner is 8 years of imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony.

In mid-January 2022, it became known that Dzmitry Kubarau was transferred penal colony #1 in Navapolack, Viciebsk region.

On August 5, 2022, the political prisoner was placed in a tighter regime cell for six months. Besides, he was placed in a punishment cell at least four times.

In October, in a punishment cell, Kubarau fell ill and developed a lung disease. The administration even had to transfer him to the medical unit for five days. There, his temperature was brought down and he was sent to the punishment cell again.

The administration of penal colony #1 initiated strengthening the punishment of Kubarau. The trial to tighten the punishment regime for Dzmitry Kubarau was scheduled for March 6, 2023. Judge Volha Baliko ruled to transfer the political prisoner to a prison regime for three years.

Dzmitry Kubarau was transferred from the penal colony in Navapolack to Prison #1 in Hrodna.

Court increases term for political prisoner Dzmitry Kubarau

The Zavodski District Court of Minsk handed down a verdict in a new trial against political prisoner Dzmitry Kubarau, who was earlier sentenced to seven years in a medium-security penal colony on charges of “organizing mass riots” (Part 1 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code).

Political prisoner Dzmitry Kubarau sentenced to 7 years on ‘rioting’ charges

The Frunzienski District Court of Minsk handed down a verdict in the criminal case of political prisoner Dzmitry Kubarau, who was accused of organizing mass riots (Part 1 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code). Judge Dzmitry Lukashevich found Kubarau guilty and sentenced him to 7 years of imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony.