Yury Ziankovich
lawyer, sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment
Political prisoner
Date of birth: 31 October 1977
Date of detention: 12 April 2021
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. 369 of the Criminal Code — Insulting a government official
- Art. 357 of the Criminal Code — Conspiracy to seize power in an unconstitutional way
- Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code — Creation of an extremist formation, or participation in it
- Art. 130 of the Criminal Code — Incitement to hatred
- Art. 411 — Malicious disobedience to the demands of administration of the correctional institution
Sentence: 13 1/2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony
Judge: Uladzimir Areshka, Aliaksandr Shutko, Viktoryia Paliakova
Prosecutor: Mikhail Kavaliou
Prison: Pre-trial detention center of KGB
Notes: Foreign citizens, Health issues, Prison security level
Groups: Lawyers and attorneys
Cases: The case of conspirators
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Anne Valentina Berthelsen, Member of Dutch Parliament
Yury Ziankovich, a lawyer, is a convict in the ‘conspiracy case’.
He was found guilty of:
- conspiracy to seize state power by unconstitutional means (part 1 of Article 357 of the СС)
- creation of an extremist formation (part 1 of Article 361-1 of the CC)
- public calls for seizure of state power (part 3 of Article 361 of the CC)
- incitement to hatred (part 3 of Article 130).
The trial commenced in the Minsk District Court on July 29, 2022. On August 8, Ziankovich pleaded guilty on all counts. He also apologized to his accomplices.
On September 5, 2022, Judge Uladzimir Areshka convicted Ziankovich and sentenced him to 11 years in a medium-security penal colony.
Ziankovich had an additional six months added to his sentence in the new criminal case. According to some reports, his punishment was increased and he was transferred to prison regime by the decision of the Babruisk court. He is being held in Mahiliou prison No. 4.
On August 7, 2024, Yury is scheduled for a new trial under Article 411 (malicious disobedience to the administration of the correctional facility) in the Leninsky District Court of Mahiliou. The decision on the case will be announced by Viktoryia Paliakova.
Since the end of the summer of 2024, Yury has been in the KGB pretrial detention center in Minsk. Last year he was held in the Mahiliou prison, where he was not allowed to receive any parcels and had no money in his account to buy food. He went on hunger strike several times. He could communicate only with a priest, and since March 2024 his lawyer was not allowed to see him either.
Yury has serious health problems due to hypertension, for which he needs constant medication. The political prisoner also has anemia and avitaminosis, a great loss of weight due to exhaustion, his skin is peeling due to lack of vitamins, he is very pale and looks unhealthy.
