Viktar Barushka
entrepreneur, sentenced to 7 years in prison
Date of birth: 30 March 1988
Date of detention: 18 October 2020
Charges indicted:
p. 5 of Part 2 of Art. 147 of the Criminal Code — Serious bodily injury deliberately caused to a person in connection with this person's official duties
Art. 411 — Malicious disobedience to the demands of administration of the correctional institution
Sentence: 7 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony
Judge: Maryna Zapasnik, Alena Verabyova
Prosecutor: Aliaksandr Ramanovich
Prison: Penal colony No. 9
Viktar Barushka is a 32-year-old businessman. After his detention, he was badly beaten by riot police and spent 12 days in intensive care unit. Barushka has a university degree.
Barushka was accused of "intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm" on a person in connection with his official activities (paragraph 5, Part 2, Article 147 of the Criminal Code). He has been in custody since October 18, after he was detained during a Sunday protest.
Viktar Barushka did not admit his guilt. He insisted that on October 18 he was walking home after the protest was over. When he saw security officers, he started to run. He was soon knocked off his feet by a riot policeman. As a result, the latter received a fracture of the tibia of the right leg, which qualifies as a severe injury.
On January 27, 2021, the Lieninski District Court of Minsk sentenced Viktar Barushka to 5 years in a medium-security penal colony.
During the trial, Barushka said that riot policemen beat him and used a truncheon to sexually assault him.
In the summer of 2021, Viktar was tried under Article 411 of the Criminal Code (Malicious disobedience to the demands of administration of the correctional institution) in the penal colony, where he was serving his sentence. As a result, he was sentenced to two more years in prison.
