Viktar Babaryka
Belarusian banker and public figure, candidate for the post of President
Date of birth: 9 November 1963
Date of detention: 18 June 2020
Charges indicted:
Art. 235 of the Criminal Code - Legalization ("laundering") of proceeds from crime
Art. 430 of the Criminal Code - Taking a bribe
Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony
Prison: Penal colony No. 1
Viktar Babaryka is a presidential nominee who was detained on June 18 together with his son Eduard on his way to the CEC. The detention was carried out by the Department for Financial Investigations of the State Control Committee. Lawyers were not allowed to visit the detainees during the entire day. On the same day, Viktar Babaryka was placed in the KGB pre-trial detention center.
The day before, Viktar Babaryka's account with the nominee's election fund was blocked.
On June 21, Viktar Babaryka was charged under Art. 243 (tax evasion on a large scale), Art. 235 (money laundering), Art. 210 (theft on a particularly large scale), Art. 209 (fraud), as well as under Art. 430 (receiving a bribe) and Art. 431 (bribing).
Viktar Babaryka strongly disagrees with the accusation, and his defense insists on his complete innocence.