Yury Nestsiarenka

Prisoner

Date of birth: 25 February 1987

Date of detention: 5 October 2022

Charges indicted:

  • Art. 368 of the Criminal Code — Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus
  • Part 1 of Art. 339 of the Criminal Code — Hooliganism
  • Art. 361-2 of the Criminal Code — Financing the activities of an extremist group
  • Art. 361-4 of the Criminal Code — Promoting extremist activities

Sentence: unknown

Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony

Prison sentence start date: 14 September 2023

Judge: Vera Halaukova

Notes: War in Ukraine

Yury Nestsiarenka was convicted on June 15, 2023 by the Minsk City Court under Part 1 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code (insulting Lukashenka), Part 2 of Article 339 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism), Part 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (promoting extremist activities), Article 361-2 of the Criminal Code (financing the activity of an extremist group). The case was considered by Judge Vera Halaukova.

Ihar Tsikach, Ihar Tsiaptseyeu, Uladzimir Savelyeu, Viktar Hrynko were convicted together with Yury Nestsiarenka on that day.

On September 14, 2023, the judge Edgar Martsirasyan heard an appeal against the sentences.

In late October 2022, the men were arrested in Minsk for allegedly hanging a white-red-white flag together with the flag of Ukraine on power poles in Minsk on October 7. A post with a photo of the flag and the caption appeared in the Telegram channel the next day. The caption said: "The citizens of Minsk congratulate the people of Ukraine on the wonderful news from the bridge in Crimea. Crimea is Ukraine! Long live Belarus! Glory to Ukraine!".

It was reported that it was Yury who took the photo, which later appeared in Anton Motolko's Telegram channel. But Yury himself said that he sent the photo only in a friends' chat.

It is known that Yury was sentenced to imprisonment, but the place of confinement is unknown.

      On October 20, 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs added Yury to the "list of extremists".

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