Mikhail Tarasevich
Prisoner
Date of birth: 7 May 1976
Date of detention: 10 May 2022
Charges indicted:
- Art. 364 of the Criminal Code — Violence or threat of violence against an employee of the internal affairs bodies
- 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. 366 of the Criminal Code — Violence or threat against an official performing official duties or another person performing a public duty
- Art. 130 of the Criminal Code — Incitement to hatred
- Art. 391 of the Criminal Code — Insulting a judge
Sentence: 6 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony
Prison sentence start date: 2 April 2023
Judge: Viktoryia Shabunia
Prison: Penal colony No. 1
Cases: Protests in Minsk
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Mikhail Tarasevich was arrested on May 10, 2022, and placed in Pre-trial Detention Center #1 in Minsk. He was charged under six articles of the Criminal Code:
- Art. 391 ('Insulting a judge or a lay judge)
- Art. 369 ('Insulting a government official')
- Part 1 of Art. 368 ('Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus')
- Part 1 of Art. 366 ('Violence or threat of violence against an official performing official duties')
- Art. 364 ('Violence or threat of violence against an employee of an internal affairs body')
- Part 2 of Art. 366 ('Violence or threat of violence committed repeatedly against an official performing official duties')
The trial began on November 22 and ended on November 28, 2022 with a guilty verdict: based on the set of charges, the judge of the Tsentralny District of Minsk, Viktoryia Shabunia, sentenced Tarasevich to six (6) years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony. Besides, he is to pay compensation for moral damage to the victims, and for the damage caused by the suspension of the public transport, in the amount of BYN 49,000 (almost USD 20,000).
