Homiel Region Faces Unprecedented Purges In Agricultural Sector

We are talking about dozens of heads of agricultural enterprises.

Dozens of farm managers and officials of the district executive committees responsible for agriculture have recently been arrested in the Homiel region. Just last week, law enforcement officials revealed details of two new criminal cases. Flagstaff shares what is known about the criminal cases against farmers.

Dobrush district

In Dobrush district, employees of almost all the district's agricultural organisations have become defendants in the criminal case. More than 40 people were suspects and defendants, many of them leaders of agricultural organisations. According to the investigation, they were involved in falsifications to show high figures for milk production and sales. As a result, the real volume of milk production in the Dobrush district was overstated by 5,000 tonnes.

The main perpetrator of the criminal scheme is the first deputy chairman and head of the agriculture and food department of the Dobrush district executive committee, Yauhen Ihnatsenka. The district executive committee official, along with directors of agricultural enterprises, is also accused of theft of fuel and construction materials, committed with abuse of power. The total damage amounted to more than 133 thousand BYN. The defendants face up to 10 years in prison.

Rechytsa District

The deputy head of the Rechytsa District Executive Committee, Vitaliy Pomaz, who supervised agriculture, was also sent to prison. The former head is charged under Article 425 Part 3 of the Criminal Code "Abuse of power". The maximum penalty under this article is 10 years' imprisonment.

Along with the official, several managers and accountants of agricultural enterprises are on trial. According to the investigation, Vitaly Pomaz gave instructions to the heads of agricultural enterprises to falsify statistical reports in order to conceal the death of cattle in the period from November 2021 to January 2023. At the same time, the official headed the Commission for Combating Corruption in Agriculture in the Rechytsa district.

Other trials of agricultural workers

Multiple criminal cases against farmers in the Homiel region have recently become a common phenomenon. In the summer of 2022, four directors of agricultural enterprises in the Kormyany district found themselves in the dock. They were accused of forgery and abuse of power.

In the spring of 2023, Siarhei Zablotski, the first deputy chairman of the Vyatki district executive committee, was put on trial in Homiel. The former official was accused of lobbying for the sale of unusable animal feed supplement "Zeol 3" among farms in Vyatki district. Several other people, including Vitaly Nikulin, director of OJSC Milkavita, were charged with participating in a criminal scheme to purchase the supplement.

In the Homiel and Mazyr districts, the trials of farm managers also took place. They were notable for their demonstrative nature. The trials were held in the district executive committees in the presence of the heads of other agricultural organisations in the district.

It should be noted that the purges in the agricultural sector coincided with the appointment of Dzmitry Petrozhytsky as chairman of the Committee for Agriculture and Food of the Homiel Regional Executive Committee. In the autumn of 2017, he was scandalously dismissed from this position, with Lukashenka demanding that a criminal case be opened.

No criminal case was brought against Petrozhitsky, but it was launched en masse against other leaders after his return to office. In the spring of 2023, Dzmitry Petrozhitsky was appointed first deputy chairman of the Homiel regional executive committee.