Mikalai Vitsikau
retired village deputy, sentenced to 8 months of imprisonment
Date of birth: 24 August 1954
Date of detention: 14 January 2022
Charges indicted:
Art. 369-1 of the Criminal Code — Discrediting Belarus
Sentence: 8 months
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Judge: Aliaksandr Zinchuk
Prosecutor: Kiryl Kadouba
Prison: Pre-trial detention center No. 3
Mikalai Vitsikau is a retired village deputy. He was arrested on January 14, 2022.
The reason for his detention was his letter to the district newspaper Mayak to discuss amendments to the Constitution. The investigators qualified the letter under Part 1 of Article 130 of the Criminal Code (incitement of hatred), while the district newspaper reacted with an insulting article. Later the charges were changed to another one: under Article 369-1 of the Criminal Code (discrediting the Republic of Belarus).
On June 7, 2022, the Navabielica District of Homieĺ passed a verdict in Mikalai Vitsikau's case. Judge Aliaksandr Zinchuk found him guilty and sentenced him to eight months of imprisonment in a general-security colony.