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Four villagers accused of murdering alleged arsonist receive unprecedentedly lenient sentences

A Homyel Regional Court panel on April 14 sentenced four villagers accused of murdering an alleged serial arsonist to between five years in prison and a two-year "restricted freedom" term, BelaPAN said. 

The panel sentenced Syarhey Alifyarovich and Ihar Makarevich to five and three years in a medium security correctional institution, respectively. Alyaksandr Petruchenya and Tatsyana Yukhnevich received two-year restricted freedom sentences.

They were all found guilty under Part Two of the Criminal Code`s Article 139, which penalizes premeditated murder and provides for a prison term of between eight and 25 years, life imprisonment, or the death penalty.

The panel referred to Article 70 of the Criminal Code, which allows mandatory minimum sentences to be further reduced.

In their final speeches earlier on Tuesday, the four asked the panel to hand down non-custodial sentences.

"I was defending my family, I didn`t want murder, it just happened somehow, I didn`t want blood, I didn`t derive any satisfaction from this," said Mr. Alifyarovich. "The victim himself is to blame and his relatives should not hold a grudge against us. I`m guilty and should be punished, but I`ve already been punished by God."

"This nightmare haunts me every night. I`m guilty and I still cannot understand how this happened," Ihar Makarevich said. "I can atone for my guilt by obedience, exemplary behavior and conscientious work."

Mr. Petruchenya asked the court to take into account his "sincere repentance."

Ms. Yukhnevich called for a fair decision "based on the danger posed by that man." "He was dangerous to society," she stressed. "If police had offered us any protection, this wouldn`t have occurred. I don`t believe that I`m guilty."

"My only request is to allow me to continue raising a child who doesn`t have a father," said the 21-year-old Yukhnevich. At the moment of her arrest in late February, she was serving a "restricted freedom" sentence for attacking her cohabitant with a knife, causing him grievous bodily injuries.

On April 13, the public prosecutor demanded 14 years in a medium-security correctional institution for two of the accused. He suggested that the other two suspects, including the young woman, be sentenced to eight years in prison as accomplices.

The Homyel Regional Court panel started hearing the case against the four residents of a small village called Pukhavichy in the nearby city of Zhytkavichy on April 7.

Pukhavichy residents who were examined as witnesses failed to substantiate earlier allegations that the victim, Mikalay Makarevich, had terrorized the village. According to them, Mr. Makarevich had never threatened them in person. Police officers told the court that the man had served two prison sentences over arson attacks.

Shortly before his death, Mr. Makarevich was arrested over one more fire in Pukhavichy. As the man explained to the police, he had set his neighbor`s shed ablaze to punish her for murdering his friend who was her husband.

Mr. Makarevich`s relatives insisted that the suspects, one of whom is a son of the mentioned woman, killed the man because of his accusations and not arson attacks.

The woman denied in the courtroom that her son was guilty of any wrongdoing. "If we had met Miyes [Mr. Makarevich`s nickname] ourselves, we would have killed him with a pitchfork," she said.

Nevertheless, she did not confirm that her shed had been burned by Mr. Makarevich.

District police officer Vasil Miranovich said at the trial that he had not received any complaints about Mr. Makarevich.

On December 31, 2008, the four villagers killed Mr. Makarevich by hitting him thrice in the head with an axe. They reportedly attempted to burn the body and then hid it in the vicinity of the nearby village of Belew.

The body of the 43-year-old Makarevich was found on January 6 and the three suspected men, aged between 28 and 36, were arrested four days later. The case made headlines and locals petitioned for mercy for the suspects.

They were released on February 6 by order of Alyaksandr Lukashenka. “Take the men back to the village and let them work there, stay with their families, and you invite and question them. This will be better for them than staying in a pretrial detention center,” the Belarusian leader told the then interior minister, Uladzimir Navumaw, at a government conference.

Mr. Lukashenka also told Supreme Court Chairman Valyantsin Sukala to sympathize with the suspects. “He [the victim] was a villain, terrorized people, the entire village," Mr. Lukashenka said. "If the men took the step, they probably were angered indeed and all ordinary people are on their side. I don’t say that this should be encouraged. Without encouraging, one should understand these people who took this extreme measure.”

Immediately after that government conference, the three men were released from the detention center, where they had been held for 27 days, and driven to their village.

The Homyel Regional Prosecutor`s Office promptly announced that the suspects would be held under house arrest pending their trial.

Tatsyana Yukhnevich was charged with involvement in the murder on February 24.

A group of 70 Pukhavichy residents complained to the Belarusian leader in February about the release of the accused from pretrial custody. There are social outcasts in every village, but this does not mean that all people with previous convictions should be murdered, they said in their petition, demanding that the murderers be punished in accordance with the law.