Mikalai Papeka
poet, beekeeper, served full term, released
Date of birth: 28 December 1961
Date of detention: 13 September 2021
Charges indicted:
Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
Sentence: 8 1/2 month
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Date of release: 17 December 2022
Judge: Siarhei Maruchak
Prosecutor: Aliaksandr Plysheuski, Aliaksei Yaroshyk
Mikalai Papeka is a poet and beekeper based in Pružany.
Papeka is a defendant in one of the "dancing protest trials". He was sentenced to two years of restricted freedom in an open correctional facility ("khimiya") over his involvement in a peaceful rally on September 13, 2020 in Brest.
Papeka was sent to serve his sentence on September 13, 2021.
Mikalai's custody level was raised from freedom restriction to imprisonment in a penal colony for 8.5 months. In June 2022 he was transferred to the Mahilioŭ penal colony.
The political prisoner served his sentence in full and was released on December 17, 2022.
