Vitaly Melekh
Date of birth: 5 February 2001
Date of detention: 4 May 2021
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: 2 1/2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Judge: Valiantsina Novikava
Vitaly Melekh was first detained in May 2021 together with 10 other individuals, mostly fans of the Mazyr soccer team Slavia. It was officially claimed that they were ‘members of a right-wing radical football fans group’.
The twenty-one-year-old man was charged under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code (organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order or active participation in them) and Article 364 of the Criminal Code (violence or threat of violence against a police officer).