Ruslan Zavadzich
IT worker, sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment
Former prisoner
Date of birth: 30 June 1992
Date of detention: 15 January 2023
Charges indicted:
- Art. 361-2 of the Criminal Code — Financing the activities of an extremist group
Sentence: 3 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Date of release: 4 September 2024
Judge: Zhanna Brysina
Groups: Activists, IT specialists
Notes: Pardon / amnesty
Cases: Solidarity with political prisoners
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Michael Töngi is a member of the Swiss National Council for the GRÜNEN party
For the past six years, Ruslan Zavadzich has been working for the Netcracker IT company. He volunteered for the environmental watchdog Protection of Motherland's Birds (aka APB Birdlife) for some time. He is also known as an astronomy club founder and a photographer.
Ruslan Zavadzich is accused of having donated about $50 to the BY_Help initiative in August 2020 and about $25 to the 2020 presidential candidate Valeryi Tsapkala in 2021.
From March 31 to April 4, 2023, in the Minsk City Court, he was tried under Part 2 of Article 361-2 of the Criminal Code ('Financing of extremist activities'). Judge Zhanna Brysina sentenced him to three years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony.
