English

Opposition activist Parfyankow sentenced to one year in prison

 

A district judge in Minsk on Thursday sentenced pardoned post-election protester Vasil Parfyankow to one year in a high-security correctional institution for allegedly failing to comply with restrictions imposed on him following his release under a pardon from Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Mr. Parfyankow 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 the 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 preventive 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.

Mr. Parfyankow served a six-month jail term between August 2012 and February 2013 after being found guilty of failure to comply with police supervision rules.

He received the sentence for being absent from home without a good excuse and for being found guilty of a minor civil offense twice within a year.

On September 16, Mr. Parfyankow was sentenced to five days in jail for allegedly violating police supervision rules, but he was removed from the detention center on Akrestsina Street in Minsk a day before the completion of the term and taken to a “treatment and labor" facility in Svetlahorsk, Homyel region, for forced treatment for alcoholism.

It was from that facility that Mr. Parfyankow was brought to Minsk for his trial.

The public prosecutor and police officers claimed at the Thursday hearing that Mr. Parfyankow had several times failed to report to a police station and repeatedly returned home after 8 p.m.

Mr. Parfyankow refused to answer questions during the hearing, stressing that all allegations against him were false, and that the real reason was his opposition activity. //BelaPAN

In photos:
Vasil Parfyankow outside the courthouse during a break in the hearing.