Kanstantsin Zalatykh
newspaper director, sentenced to 4 years imprisonment
Date of birth: 5 July 1969
Date of detention: 18 May 2022
Charges indicted:
Art. 369 of the Criminal Code — Insulting a government official
Art. 368 of the Criminal Code — Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus
Art. 130 of the Criminal Code — Incitement to hatred
Art. 426 of the Criminal Code: Abuse of power or authority
Sentence: 4 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Prison sentence start date: 4 July 2023
Judge: Alena Shylko
Prison: Penal colony No. 1
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Kanstantsin Zalatykh is the director of Belorusy i rynok newspaper. He was arrested on May 18, 2022, after the police had searched the editorial office. Kanstantsin Zalatykh was charged under Part 2 of Article 130 of the Criminal Code (Incitement to hatred, combined with violence or committed by an official).
The political prisoner was kept in the pre-trial detention center in Žodzina, Minsk region. Later he was transferred to remand prison #1 in Minsk.
Kanstantsin Zalatykh is accused under four articles of the Criminal Code: Part 2 of Article 130 (Inciting racial, national, religious or other social hatred or enmity), Part 1 of Article 368 (Contempt of the president of Belarus), Article 369 (Contempt of a government official), and Part 2 of Article 426 (Exceeding authority or official powers).
His trial started on March 24, 2023, in the Minsk City Court. Judge Alena Shylko tried the case behind closed doors. On April 6, 2023, the political prisoner was sentenced to four years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony.
