Siarhei Yafimau
sentenced to 3 years in prison
Political prisoner
Date of birth: 1 June 1991
Date of detention: 9 August 2020
Charges indicted:
- Art. 364 of the Criminal Code — Violence or threat of violence against an employee of the internal affairs bodies
- Art. 411 — Malicious disobedience to the demands of administration of the correctional institution
Sentence: 5 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Judge: Sviatlana Samuseva, Liudmila Zinkevich
Prison: Pre-trial detention center No. 8
Cases: Protests in Homieĺ
Siarhei Yafimau is a resident of Homieĺ sentenced to 3 years in a penal colony under Article 364 of the Criminal Code (violence against a police officer).
According to the prosecution, in the evening of August 9, Yafimau approached a riot policeman, sprayed pepper spray in his face from a gas canister and hit him in the head. Two other police officers tried to detain the attacker, who attempted to escape, spraying gas and inflicting "at least nine blows to the head and torso" of one of the officers. The evidence in court was the testimony of the injured policemen, as well as video footage recorded by CCTV cameras in Lenin Square in Homieĺ.
Siarhei told in court that he was not going to attack the policemen that evening, but he was afraid that detentions would start, he got upset and started running, but when he came across riot policemen he took out a can and sprayed it.
On June 15, 2023, on the eve of his release from Colony No. 14, the Žodzina court considered Siarhei's case under Article 411 (malicious disobedience to the demands of the penitentiary administration). Judge Sviatlana Samusieva sentenced him to 1 year's imprisonment.
