Viktar Babaryka
Belarusian banker and public figure, presidential candidate, sentenced to 14 years in prison
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
Sentence: 14 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony
Judge: Ihar Liubavitski
Prosecutor: Siarhei Hirhel
Prison: Penal colony No. 1
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Petras Austriavičius, member of the European Parliament
Viktar Babaryka is a presidential nominee who was detained on June 18, 2020 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 disagreed with the accusation, and his defense insisted on his complete innocence.
On July 6, 2021, the Maskouski District Court of Minsk sentenced Babaryka to 14 years in a medium-security penal colony.