Ivan Andrushoits
sentenced to 3 years in penal colony; released after serving full sentence
Date of birth: 30 May 1986
Date of detention: 5 November 2020
Charges indicted:
Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
Art. 341 of the Criminal Code — Desecration of structures and damage to property
Art. 352 of the Criminal Code — Illegal acquisition of computer information
Art. 350 of the Criminal Code - Destruction, blocking or modification of computer information
Art. 354 of the Criminal Code - Development, use, distribution or sale of malicious computer programs
Part 1 of Article 13 and Article 293 of the Criminal Code — Preparation for mass riots
Sentence: 3 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Date of release: 9 February 2023
Judge: Zhanna Khvainitskaya
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Max Lucks, member of the German Bundestag
Ivan Andrushoits was detained on November 5. His house was searched, and his equipment and documents were confiscated. He was charged under two articles of the Criminal Code: Art. 342 ('Participation in group acts grossly violating public order') and Art. 349 ('Access to computer information by group of persons by prior conspiracy').
Judge Zhanna Khvoinitskaya decided to consider the case behind closed doors due to the fact that “the materials of the criminal case contain information that is a state secret".
On January 28, the Zavodski District Court of Minsk sentenced four political prisoners for “hacking the computer system of the Minsk City Executive Committee”. The political prisoners Kim Samusenka and Aliaksei Samusenka were sentenced to 6.5 and 4 years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony, respectively, while Pavel Drozd and Ivan Andrushoits were sentenced to 3.5 years of imprisonment in a penal colony each.
On April 26, 2022, the Minsk City Court considered the appeal and upheld the verdict. Pavel Drozd and Ivan Andrushoits had their sentences reduced by six months—to 3 years in a penal colony.
In mid-May 2022, Ivan Andrushoits was transferred from remand prison #1 in Minsk to prison #4 in Mahilioŭ, and then to penal colony # 2 in Babrujsk.
It is known that in early December Ivan Andrushoits was placed in a strict-regime cell until the end of his sentence.
On February 9, 2023, the political prisoner was released having served his full sentence.
Four political prisoners accused of hacking the government computer system sentenced to 3,5 to 6,5 years