Yauhen Batura
engineer, sentenced to 2 years of restricted freedom
Former prisoner
Date of birth: 31 July 1977
Date of detention: 29 June 2022
Charges indicted:
- Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
Sentence: 2 years
Penalty: restricted freedom in an open penal facility ("khimiya")
Prison sentence start date: 12 February 2023
Date of release: 6 August 2024
Judge: Viktoryia Shabunia
Groups: Activists
Cases: Protests in Minsk
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Birgit Oline Kjerstad, Member of the Norwegian Parliament
Yauhen Batura was detained on June 29, 2022, in Minsk, after a search in his apartment. It became known that Batura was charged under Article 342 of the Criminal Code ('Group actions grossly breaching public order') for taking part in a protest action on August 14, 2020.
Yauhen Batura is an engineer. He worked 23 years at the Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ plant), but by 2022 he was dismissed for his civil position. Since 2010, he has been engaged in the national and public movement, campaigns in support of political prisoners, promoting the memory of the victims of the Soviet repressions. His great-grandfather was shot in July 1938 in Minsk.
On September 29, 2022, the trial on Batura's case started in the Centraĺny District Court of Minsk. The next day, Judge Viktoryia Shabunia pronounced the verdict: the political prisoner was sentenced to 24 months of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility.
Batura was released awaiting the commencement of the sentence.
On February 12, 2023, the political prisoner began to serve his sentence in open-type penal facility #43 in Mahilioŭ.
It is known that Yauhen Batura, a former engineer, cannot get even a low-paid job in grinding of concrete slabs, since the reference letter issued by the MTZ plant describes him is “unreliable” and he is listed as an "extremist".
