Another Criminal Case Was Opened against 17-Year-Old Mikita Zalatarou

The teenager was accused of "violence against an employee of the pre-trial detention center."

A minor political prisoner Mikita Zalatarou is accused of violence against an employee of the internal affairs bodies, according to the telegram channel of the human rights center Viasna.

It is noted that the new criminal case has already been sent to the prosecutor for transfer to court.

Another case was opened under Art. 364 of the Criminal Code (violence against an employee of the internal affairs bodies) against the teenager who is already serving a sentence. According to investigators, Zalatarou tripped the senior officer on duty at the Homel SIZO, as a result of which he fell; he also threatened Hovbok, the deputy head of the correctional facility. Under this article, the young man faces up to six years in prison, human rights activists say.

During one of the meetings with his father, Mikita told him that, in prison, he was beaten and threatened with the words: "You are political, you will die," writes Viasna.

On February 22, 17-year-old Mikita Zalatarou was sentenced to five years in prison in an educational colony. The young man was accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at the feet of two AMAP officers and of organizing riots.

According to human rights activists, in addition to Zalatarou, teenagers Dzianis Khazei, Siarhei Hatskevich, Aliaksandr Viniarski, Eduard Kudyniuk were convicted for participating in the protests after the 2020 elections in Belarus. Khazei, Hatskevich, Viniarski, and Kudyniuk were sentenced to three years in an educational colony, Zalatarou - to five years. All teenagers were recognized as political prisoners.