Zmitser Dashkevich
political activist, Young Front leader, sentenced to 1 1/2 years of imprisonment
Date of birth: 20 July 1981
Date of detention: 23 March 2022
Charges indicted:
Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
Art. 411 — Malicious disobedience to the demands of administration of the correctional institution
Sentence: 2 1/2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a maximum-security penal colony
Judge: Tatsiana Pirozhnikava, Tatsiana Dzeravianka
Prosecutor: Yeliskevich
Prison: Penal colony No. 14
Zmitser Dashkevich is a political activist and a leader of the Malady Front (Young Front) Belarusian youth movement. He has been active in public and political life since 2001.
Dashkevich was arrested on April 23, 2022, after a search of his apartment. At first, he was arrested for 15 days under administrative charges. Later, he was re-arrested as a defendant in a criminal case under Article 342 of the Criminal Code ('Organization and preparation of actions grossly violating public order or active participation in them') for his participation in the protests on August 23, 2020. The same charges were brought against his wife Nasts Dashkevich. Zmitser Dashkevich was transferred to a pre-trial detention center.
On July 14, 2022, in the Maskoŭski District Court of Minsk, Judge Tatsiana Pirozhnikava found Zmitser Dashkevich and Nasta Dashkevich guilty. She sentenced Zmitser Dashkevich to 18 months of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony, and Nasta Dashkevich, who had recently given birth to the family's fourth child, to three years of restricted freedom under home confinement.
In early October 2022, Zmitser Dashkevich was transferred to Penal Colony #14 in Navasady (Minsk region), where he was immediately placed in a punishment cell.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs included the political prisoner in their 'List of extremists'.
On July 11, 2023, the political prisoner was to be released. Instead, new criminal proceedings were started against him under Article 411 of the Criminal Code ('Willful disobeying requirements of penitentiary administration'). He was transferred to Remand Prison #8 in Žodzina (Minsk region).
On July 28, 2023, the Barysaŭ District Court (Minsk region) heard the complaint filed by Dashkevich's lawyer against the decision to remand Dashkevich in custody. Most likely, Judge Tatsiana Shyman dismissed the complaint.
Dashkevich family convicted
Zmitser Dashkevich was recognized as a political prisoner before: in 2006 and 2011. In 2006, Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience.
