Yelisei Kuzniatsou

in custody

Prisoner

Date of birth: 14 November 2003

Date of detention: 15 May 2023

Charges indicted:

  • Art. 370 of the Criminal Code — Desecration of state symbols
  • Art. 364 of the Criminal Code — Violence or threat of violence against an employee of the internal affairs bodies
  • Art. 295 of the Criminal Code — Unlawful acts against firearms, ammunition and explosives

Sentence: 2 1/2 years

Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony

Judge: Halina Prykhozhka

Prosecutor: Tatsiana Zharynava

Prison: Penal colony No. 14

Notes: Detained juveniles

Yelisei Kuzniatsou, 17, was accused of throwing a bottle with a flammable mixture at a police car.

The criminal case was brought under two articles of the Criminal Code: Article 295-3 ('Illegal actions with objects the striking effect of which is based on the use of flammable substances') and Article 364 ('Threat of violence against police officers').

Prosecutor Tatsiana Zharynava (assistant prosecutor of the Žabinka district) asked for two and a half years of restricted freedom under home confinement. On the same day, November 5, 2021, the court of the Žabinka district passed exactly the sentence the prosecutor had requested.

However, the sentence was re-qualified. On April 20, 2022, Kuzniatsou was taken into custody. From May 27, 2022, he served his seven-and-a-half-months term in a penal colony. 

Yelisei Kuzniatsou finished serving his jail time and was released on December 17, 2022.

Yelisei Kuzniatsou was charged with 'desecrating state symbols' and taken into custody under Article 370 of the Criminal Code.

Mail address: Penal colony No. 14. 222125, Minsk region, Barysaŭ district, s.n.p. Navasady, vulica Miru 1a

Addresses of prisons:

What should I know and how to help?

✉️ Write a letter. Make a scan of your letter or postcard and share it online

🤝 Please use the Russian (or Belarusian) name of the prison

💡 Foreign-language messages may be blocked, so attach a translation (e.g. translate.google.com)

💡 A big guide about helping Belarusian political prisoners from abroad

💡 More tips here

Support “Viasna”