Siarhei Rabtsau
Prisoner
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
Prison: Penal colony No. 3
Cases: The Zeltser case
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
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.
