Minsker Jailed For Seven Years For Administering Neighbourhood Telegram Channel

There have been at least nine court hearings in the case.

On July 27, the Minsk Municipal Court sentenced 34-year-old political prisoner from Minsk Yauhen Verkhavodkin to seven years in a reinforced-security penal colony. The man was accused of administering the Telegram channel “Chizhovka Chyzhouka (Seven Chizhs InfoPole)”, recognized as an “extremist formation” on December 2, 2022. He was also found guilty of “calling for sanctions”. Yauhen was detained shortly after the resource was recognized as an “extremist formation”, human rights activists report.

Yauhen Verkhavodkin was detained during a mass arrest in Chyzhouka on December 22, 2022 and placed in custody under Article 342 of the Criminal Code (participation in protests). But now he was tried for “calling for sanctions” (Part 3 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code) and “creation of an extremist formation or participation in it” (Part 1 of Article 361-1 of the Criminal Code).

Interestingly, the case of the Minsk resident was considered by the notorious judge Anzhela Kastyukevich, who until recently worked in the court of the Zavodski district of Minsk, which is the district where Yauhen lived.

According to human rights activists, at least nine court hearings have been held in the case. There were many witnesses at the trial who testified against him. Yauhen was accused of administering the channel, calling on Belarusians to go to protests, editing posts, after which there were allegedly strikes at the factories, etc.

You can send letters, money transfers and parcels at the following address: remand prison #1, 220030, Minsk, Valadarski Street, 2 Yauhen Aliakseyevich Verkhavodkin.