Siarhei Piatrukhin
Former political prisoner
Date of birth: 10 May 1971
Date of detention: 16 June 2020
Charges indicted:
- Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
- Art. 369 of the Criminal Code — Insulting a government official
- Art. 391 of the Criminal Code — Insulting a judge
Sentence: 3 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Date of release: 17 December 2022
Judge: Volha Krauchanka
Prosecutor: Tatsiana Amosava
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Omid Nouripour, member of the German Bundestag
Siarhei Piatrukhin is a blogger based in Brest, author of the YouTube channels "Narodnyi Reportyor" ("People's Reporter") and "YouTube Deputaty" ("YouTube MPs").
On June 16, 2020, he was detained in the Puchavičy district nera Minsk and taken to the Kobryn pre-trial detention center. On June 25, Piatrukhin was taken to a temporary detention center in Minsk. It became known that he was detained as part of a criminal case under Art. 342 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (organization and preparation for actions that grossly violate public order), related to the events on May 29 in Hrodna.
On April 14, 2021, Judge Volha Krauchanka of the Kastryčnicki District Court of Mahilioŭ sentenced Piatrukhin to three years in a general-security penal colony, finding him guilty of organizing group actions that grossly violated public order (Article 342 of the Criminal Code), insulting a government official (Article 369 of the Criminal Code) and insulting a judge of the Brest Regional Court (Article 391 of the Criminal Code).
The political prisoner served his term in full and was released on December 17, 2022.
