Maksim Matyrka
sentenced to 9 years of imprisonment
Prisoner
Date of birth: 9 June 1977
Date of detention: 1 April 2022
Charges indicted:
- Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
- 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. 411 — Malicious disobedience to the demands of administration of the correctional institution
Sentence: 9 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony
Judge: Alena Zhyvitsa, Tatsiana Shotsik
Prison: Penal colony No. 9
Notes: Foreign citizens, Prison security level
Cases: Protests in Minsk
Maksim Matyrka is a citizen of Russia, who has been living in Belarus for 16 years. He was charged with Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code (active participation in actions that grossly violate public order) for his participation in protests in 2020, and later with Part 3 of Article 218 of the Criminal Code (intentional destruction or damage to property) for setting fire to a car.
On April 6, 2022, the Kastryčnicki District Court of Minsk sentenced Maksim to eight years in a medium-security penal colony under Article 218 of the Criminal Code. The case was considered by Judge Alena Zhyvitsa.
On June 22, 2022, a Lieninski District Court of Minsk Judge Tatsiana Shotsik sentenced the political prisoner to three years of restricted freedom in an open-type penitentiary under Article 342 of the Criminal Code, and taking into account the previous sentence Maksim Matyrka was sentenced to nine years in a medium-security regime colony.
