Wife Of Political Prisoner Artsiom Anishchuk Sentenced To 10 Days

Judge Alena Nekrasava considered the case.

On November 7, the Zavadski District Court of Minsk held a hearing on the administrative case against Volha Anishchuk, the wife of political prisoner Artsiom Anishchuk. Judge Alena Nekrasava considered the case. According to human rights activists, a woman was tried for repost.

Volha Anishchuk was detained on November 4. Her husband Artsiom was sentenced on February 3, 2021 to two years in prison for “damaging the car” of a security official. He was sent to serve his term in Mahiliou Colony No. 15, where he was tortured and beaten. Artsiom was kept in a punishment isolation cell for 40 days in a row, where a prisoner with mental illness attacked him and scratched his back with a shaving stick.

Artsiom was supposed to be released at the end of June, having served a full two-year sentence, but he was not released again, since a new criminal case was opened under Art. 369 of the Criminal Code, insulting a government official, in a private Telegram chat even before his arrest.

At the same time, there was an old version of Art. 369 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus at the time of the offense, which did not provide for detention as an interim measure. But in order not to release the political prisoner, a new criminal case was brought against him. On July 25, Judge Ksenia Nikifarava, based on sentences in two criminal cases, sentenced the political prisoner to three years in prison, he has served two years of this term. Artsiom did not plead guilty at the trial and stated that the new criminal case was the revenge of the head of colony No. 15, where he was tortured and beaten.

In October, the Ministry of Internal Affairs included the political prisoner in the list of "persons involved in extremist activities".