Mikalai Artsiukhou
Date of birth: 22 May 1979
Date of detention: 15 August 2022
Charges indicted:
Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
Sentence: 2 1/2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Judge: Natallia Dziadkova
Mikalai Artsiukhou is a well-known Catholic and social activist. He was accused of calling for protests on social networks and 'preparing actions that grossly violate public order and actively participating in them' (Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code).
Artsiukhou was born on May 22, 1979 in Minsk. He studied at the Law Faculty of the International Humanities and Economics Institute. Since 1996, he had been actively involved in the life of the Catholic youth. In 2003 and 2004, he participated in the local and parliamentary elections. He was an initiator of the formation of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party's organizing committee, but since 2011 he had retired from active political life.
Besides, the Minsktrans government-owned public transport operator filed a civil suit against Artsiukhou for the recovery of the property damage caused to the public transport in Minsk in the amount of BYN 27,416.67 (about USD 9,988).
On November 4, 2022, the Partyzanski District Court of Minsk sentenced Artsiukhou to two years and six months of imprisonment in a penal colony. The case was considered by the judge Natallia Dziadkova.
