Sentence upheld for Parfyankou

On July 24, the Minks City Court heard an appeal against the sentence for former political prisoner  Parfyankou delivered by the court of the Pershamaiski district of Minsk on May 29.

Parfyankou was found guilty of violating the rules of preventive surveillance and sentenced to 6 months in custody.

The Minsk City Court upheld the judgement for Vasily Parfyankou, BelaPAN news agency has learned Maksim Vinyarski, an activist of European Belarus civil campaign.

“The Minsk City Court upheld the sentence as we expected. It was a final decision to find Parfyankou guilty of violating the rules of preventive surveillance. He was  only acquitted under article 107 of the Criminal Code (applying compulsory safety measures and treatment to persons suffering from alcohol and drug addiction), Vinyarski said.

Vasily Parfyankou has not been taken to penitentiary yet. “He has not been detained. He will wait at home for sending him to a detention facility,” Vinyarski said.

Parfyanou will serve his sentence in a detention facility with milder conditions than in a penal colony.  He will remain at home until the sentence takes force after the appeal.

Parfyankou, 28, was the first person convicted for the mass disorders on December 19, 2010. in February 2011, the Frunzenski district court of Minsk found him guilty of participating in mass disorders and sentenced him to four years in a maximum security penal colony. Parfyankou was also obliged to pay more than 14 million rubles for the glass doors in the House of Government broken during the unsanctioned rally.

He served his term in a penal colony in Orsha until being pardoned in August 2011. He was placed under preventive surveillance in January 2012. In April, the Investigation Committee of the Pershamaiski district of Minsk opened a criminal case against the former political prisoner for violation the rules of the surveillance (absence from home without a good excuse).

Parfyankou explained he was out for a few minutes to buy food in a shop. “I think I was placed under preventive surveillance to hinder my public activity. I don't think going to a shop is an offence,” he said.