Yauhen Afnahel
activist of the European Belarus opposition group, sentenced to 7 years in prison
Date of birth: 7 February 1979
Date of detention: 25 September 2020
Charges indicted:
Part 3 of Art. 293 of the Criminal code — Training or other preparation of persons for participation in mass riots, or financing of this activity
Part 1 of Article 13 and Article 293 of the Criminal Code — Preparation for mass riots
Sentence: 7 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a high security prison
Judge: Iryna Lanchava
Prison: Prison No. 4
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Verena Hubertz, member of the German Bundestag (Social Democratic Party)
Yauhen Afnahel is an activist of the European Belarus opposition group. He was detained together on September 25, 2020, as part of a criminal case under Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code ("rioting") after security officers stormed his apartment.
On October 1, Afnahel was charged. He was held in pre-trial prison No. 1 in Minsk.
Yauhen Afnahel, Pavel Yukhnevich and Andrei Voinich were among the founders and active members of the Zubr opposition movement. For their exclusively peaceful opposition activities, they were repeatedly repressed by the current authorities, including through fines, administrative arrests, beatings, intimidation and pressure.
After the events of 2010, Yauhen Afnahel was forced to emigrate for a long time, but eventually returned to Belarus to continue his opposition political activities.
On February 5, 2021, it was reported that Afnahel faced another charge under Part 3 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code (financing of riots).
On May 25, 2021, Judge Iryna Lanchava of the Mahilioŭ Regional Court sentenced Afnahel to 7 years in a medium-security penal colony. The trial was held behind closed doors, since, as explained in court, “the case file belongs to a secret protected by law.”
On April 12, 2022, Judge Iryna Zharova ruled to transfer Yauhen Afnahel to a supermax prison for 2 years. The trial was held over a video conference.