Ivan Kotau
sentenced to 3 1/2 years of imprisonment
Prisoner
Date of birth: 9 June 1998
Date of detention: 6 December 2022
Charges indicted:
- Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
- Art. 361 of the Criminal Code — Calls for actions aimed at causing harm to the national security of the Republic of Belarus
- Art. 368 of the Criminal Code — Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus
- Art. 130 of the Criminal Code — Incitement to hatred
Sentence: 3 1/2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Judge: Uladzimir Areshka
Prison: Penal colony No. 1
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Ivan Kotau is 24 years old. He is from the Smaliavičy District, Minsk region. He is fond of sports. In 2017, he received the rank of a candidate for master of sports in powerlifting without equipment. In 2020, Kotau graduated from the Belarusian National Technical University with a specialty in "Technical maintenance of sports facilities".
Ivan Kotau is also fond of football and volleyball and runs his sports news channel on YouTube. He is the ex-host of the Eniergietyk-BDU Minsk football club's social networks.
In 2020, he was detained during the protest actions. In 2021, he was detained at a concert of the Belarusian RSP rock band at a recreation center near Smaliavičy and arrested for 15 days.
On February 27, 2023, in the Minsk Regional Court, he was convicted under four articles of the Criminal Code: Part 1 of Article 130 ('Inciting other social hatred and enmity'), Part 1 of Article 342 ('Organization and preparation of actions grossly disrupting public order or active participation in them'), Part 3 of Article 361 ('Calls for restrictive measures (sanctions) and other actions aiming to harm the national security of Belarus'), and Part 1 of Article 368 ('Contempt of the President of Belarus'). Judge Uladzimir Areshka sentenced Ivan Kotau to three years and six months of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony.
