Siarhei Rabtsau

Date of birth: 5 September 2002

Date of detention: 30 September 2021

Charges indicted:

Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code — Organization of riots
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. 130 of the Criminal Code — Incitement to hatred
Art. 367 of the Criminal Code — Slander against the President of the Republic of Belarus

Sentence: 6 1/2 years

Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony

Judge: Mikalai Rachynski

On the list of “terrorists” (money transfers are prohibited)

Siarhei Rabtsau was accused of insulting Lukashenka (Part 1 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code), slandering Lukashenka (Part 1 of Art. 367), 'inciting other social enmity' (Part 1 of Art. 130), 'insulting a government official' (Art. 369), and 'organization of mass riots' (Part 1 of Art. 293).

The case was heard by the judge Mikalai Rachynski.

Siarhei Rabtsau was detained on September 30, 2021, at first for posting comments on the KGB officer Dzmitryi Fedasiuk and the IT specialist Andrei Zeltser both of whom died in a shootout in Minsk. Rabtsau was summoned to the military office, where law enforcement officers were waiting for him. Then, in his absence, his house was searched.

Before the trial, he was detained in prison #1 in Hrodna for more than a year.

At the beginning of September 2022, it became known that Rabtsau was included in the 'List of persons involved in terrorist activities' compiled by the KGB.

There is still very little information about the trial, which began on October 24.

On November 4, 2022, the Hrodna Regional Court issued a harsh sentence. The judge Mikalai Rachynski found Rabtsau guilty and sentenced him to six years and six months of imprisonment in an enhanced security colony.

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