Ryka Kryher
Date of birth: 23 September 1993
Date of detention: 6 October 2023
Charges indicted:
- Art. 295 of the Criminal Code — Unlawful acts against firearms, ammunition and explosives
- Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code — Creation of an extremist formation, or participation in it
- Art. 309 of the Criminal Code — Intentional disrepair of a vehicle or communication lines
- Art. 289 of the Criminal Code — An act of terrorism
- Article 358-1 of the Criminal Code — Agent activity
Sentence: execution by firing squad
Date of release: 1 August 2024
Judge: Aleh Lapeka
Prosecutor: Tatsiana Hrakun
Groups: Doctors, The military
Rico Krieger was born in Berlin and worked as a rescue medic for the German Red Cross. The man had a minor child at home. It is also known that Rico Krieger previously worked as a special security officer at the State Department in Berlin, where he gained experience in Armed Security Operations. After this position, he moved into healthcare, worked as a nurse, and eventually specialized in emergency medicine as an emergency medical technician. In Belarus, he was charged under six serious articles of the Criminal Code at once: "mercenary activity" (Article 133), "agent activity" (Article 358-1), "act of terrorism" (Part 3 of Article 289), "creation of an extremist formation" (Part 3 of Article 361-1), "intentional disrepair of a vehicle or communication lines" (Part 4 of Article 309), "illegal actions in relation to firearms, ammunition and explosives" (Part 4 of Article 295).
On June 24, 2024, Rico Krieger was found guilty of "arranging an explosion in order to influence decision-making by authorities, intimidate the population, destabilize public order (an act of terrorism) committed by a person who had previously committed a crime under Part 4 of Article 295 of the Criminal Code, as an organized group, that is, committing a crime under Part 3 Article 289 of the Criminal Code". On the basis of it, Krieger was sentenced to the death penalty (execution by firing squad). It is still unclear what explosion they talk about. Human rights activists also learned that the case of the military doctor concerns the Kalinoŭski Regiment, namely its structural unit, the foreign mechanized Western Unit.
According to the results of the trial, he was sentenced to execution by firing squad.
FIDH, Viasna, and other organizations call on Belarus to stop the execution of Rico Krieger
On July 30, 2024, it became known that Rico had applied for pardon to Aliaksandr Lukashenka. The latter, in turn, convened a meeting on this issue with "people directly involved in handling the case." In the evening of July 30, as propagandists write, Lukashenka made a decision to pardon Krieger.
Released by exchange on August 1, 2024.
Lukashenka pardoned German Rico Krieger, sentenced to death
The Rico Krieger case: we have collected everything that is known
Employee of the German Red Cross sentenced to death in Belarus
