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Vasil Parfyankow released from prison

 

Prominent young opposition activist Vasil Parfyankow was released from a jail in Baranavichy, Brest region, on Saturday on completion of his six-month term.

Mr. Parfyankow, currently 29, was one of the 28 people who were sentenced to prison terms in connection with their participation in a post-election protest staged in Minsk on the night of December 19, 2010. He was the first of them to stand trial. In February 2011, he was sentenced to a four-year prison term.

He was granted a presidential pardon on August 11, 2011 and released three days later.

After his release, Mr. Parfyankow was repeatedly arrested and punished under the Civil Offenses Code for participating in unsanctioned demonstrations.

In January 2012, a district judge in Minsk placed the young man under police supervision after the police claimed that he "has not stepped on the path of reformation" and "has repeatedly disturbed the public peace."
Mr. Parfyankow was ordered to report to a probation officer once a week and stay at home between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless he was required to be at his workplace, and prohibited from leaving Minsk on personal business without police permission.

On May 29, 2012, Mr. Parfyankow was found guilty of failure to comply with the restrictions imposed on him and sentenced to six months in jail. The public prosecutor in the case said that the young man had been absent from home without a good excuse and had been found guilty of a civil offense twice within a year.

On July 24, a judge of the Minsk City Court upheld the sentence and ruled that Mr. Parfyankow should stay at home waiting to be sent to jail. He was placed in the jail on Valadarskaha Street in Minsk on August 9 and transferred to the Baranavichy jail a week later.

Mr. Parfyankow was greeted by a crowd of friends, supporters and reporters as he walked out of the jail at 11 a.m. //BelaPAN