Uladzimir Zhykhar
sentenced to 5 years in prison
Prisoner
Date of birth: 28 September 1973
Date of detention: 13 September 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. 364 of the Criminal Code — Violence or threat of violence against an employee of the internal affairs bodies
Sentence: 5 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Judge: Aliaksandr Yakunchykhin
Prosecutor: Anastasiya Maliko
Prison: Penal colony No. 1
Cases: Protests in Minsk
Uladzimir Zhykhar was sentenced to five years in a general-security penal colony for allegedly taking a traumatic pistol from a police officer during a protest on September 13, 2020. He also reportedly inflicted bodily injuries on several riot police officers.
Zhykhar was charged under three articles of the Criminal Code:
Part 1 of Article 342 (organization or active participation in group actions that grossly violate public order);
Article 364 (violence or threat of violence against a police officer);
Part 2 of Article 206 (robbery associated with violence or with the threat of such violence).
Uladzimir Zhykhar was detained the same day and has been in custody since then.
According to the indictment, intending to use violence against a riot police officer Hrybouski, Zhykhar grabbed him and tried to pull him out of the car. He also allegedly threatened to use violence against several other officers in order to "prevent them from performing their duties." Zhykhar then kicked the officers at leats twice and grabbed one of them by the bulletproof vest.
Uladzimir Zhykhar pleaded not guilty. He claimed that he did not hit anyone, but only pulled one of the officers by his shoulders.
