Yauhen Verkhavodkin
sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment
Date of birth: 29 November 1988
Date of detention: 22 December 2022
Charges indicted:
Art. 361 of the Criminal Code — Calls for actions aimed at causing harm to the national security of the Republic of Belarus
Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code — Creation of an extremist formation, or participation in it
Sentence: 7 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony
Prison sentence start date: 23 August 2023
Judge: Anzhela Kastsiukevich
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Yauhen Verkhavodkin is from the Čyžoŭka microdistrict of Minsk. He was arrested during the wave of detentions in Čyžoŭka in December 2022. He was charged under Article 342 of the Criminal Code ('Active participation in group actions grossly disrupting public order').
He is known to have no close relatives.
On July 17, 2023, it became known that political prisoner was being tried under a different article of the Criminal Code, namely Part 1 of Article 361-1 ('Creation of an extremist formation or participation in it') and Part 3 of Article 361 ('Calls for sanctions and other actions aiming to harm the national security of Belarus').
On July 27, 2023, the Minsk City Court sentenced Yauhen Verkhavodkin to seven years of imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony.
He was transferred from remand prison #1 in Minsk to Prison #4 in Mahilioŭ to serve his sentence.
