(UPD) On Wednesday, Belarusian anarchists Mikita Yemyalyanau and Ivan Komar have been sentenced to seven years in prison each.
The trial kicked off on February, 6 in Savetski district court of Minsk. On February 11, public prosecutor Ihar Seneu asked the court to sentence them to seven years of imprisonment in a medium security penal colony. Today, when delivering the verdict, judge Alyaksandr Yakunchykhin has taken heed of the position of the persecution.
The two 19-year-olds were detained on October, 20. According to the investigators, in September, the men pelted the building of Minsk City Court with paint bulbs; a month later, the duo threw a Molotov cocktail at the detention facility in Valadarski street. In such a way, they allegedly expressed solidarity with Zmitser Paliyenka, another activist of the anarchist movement, who was standing trial in the autumn of 2019.
Yemyalyanau and Komar were charged under Art. 341 of the Criminal Code (‘desecration of buildings and destruction of property;), Art. 295.3 (‘wrongful acts involving combustible materials’) and Art. 344 (‘intentional damage to historical and cultural values’).
In court, Komar did not plead guilty to the charges above, Yemyalyanau admitted partial guilt. Ivan Komar also claims the law enforcers exerted pressure on him during the investigation.
