Yury Siarhei

sentenced to 6 years in prison

Prisoner

Date of birth: 6 May 1988

Date of detention: 13 November 2020

Charges indicted:

  • Art. 218 of the Criminal Code — Intentional destruction or damage to property committed in a generally dangerous manner or causing damage on a large scale
  • Art. 295 of the Criminal Code — Unlawful acts against firearms, ammunition and explosives
  • Part 3 of Art. 339 of the Criminal Code — Especially malicious hooliganism

Sentence: 6 years

Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony

Judge: Anzhela Kastsiukevich

Prison: Penal colony No. 17

Cases: Protests in Minsk

Yury Siarhei is a manager at BNB Bank.

On October 27, 2020, a video appeared on social media of a BMW driver beating a man on the road. Earlier, the man was waving a white-red-white flag, and the driver's violent reaction was apparently casued by his political position (later the attacker argued that the incident was not related to politics). After the video became viral, the attacker's address and phone number were leaked online. According to the investigation, three Minsk residents decided to punish the man by puncturing the tires of his car. On the night of October 28, they came to his neighborhood, but on the way two of them (Kiryl Kazei and Yury Siarhei) were detained by riot police, another participant managed to escape and is now wanted. During a personal search, an air pistol without bullets and a cylinder was confiscated from Kazei, and a homemade knife was confiscated from Siarhei, which the examination called blade weapons. The next day, when inspecting Kazei's car, flags, leaflets, fireworks, laser pointers, a hand grenade and 58 rounds of ammunition were found. An inspection of the car was shown in a story on state TV.

Siarhei and Kazei were charged under three articles of the Criminal Code: preparation for committing particularly malicious hooliganism (Part 1, Article 13, Part 3, Article 339 of the Criminal Code), preparation for intentional destruction or damage to property (Part 1 of Article 13, Part 2 of Article 218 of the Criminal Code), illegal storage of ammunition (Part 3 of Article 295 of the Criminal Code). They have been in custody since November 13, 2020.

Kazei and Siarhei pleaded not guilty in court. Kiryl Kazei told in detail about his detention, about the violence committed by the riot police, about threats and harassment he faced in the police department.

On March 31, 2021, Zavodski District Court Judge Anzhela Kastsiukevich sentenced Kiryl Kazei to 7 years in a medium-security penal colony and Yury Siarhei to 6 years in a medium-security penal colony.

Mail address: Penal colony No. 17. 213004, Škloŭ, vulica 1-ja Zavodskaja 8

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