Ihar Povarau

employee of BMZ, sentenced to 3 years in prison

Former prisoner

Date of birth: 23 May 1990

Date of detention: 23 November 2020

Charges indicted:

  • Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them

Sentence: 3 years

Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony

Date of release: 10 September 2023

Judge: Yauhen Yerafeyeu

Prosecutor: Andrei Anoshka

Groups: Employees

Notes: Prison security level

Cases: Protests in Žlobin

Godparent: James Lawless, member of the Irish Parliament

Ihar Povarau is an employee of the BMZ steel works in Žlobin. He was detained on November 23 for organizing a strike at the enterprise on August 17. Ihar and several other employees were charged under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code (group actions that grossly violate public order).

The workers were accused of blocking the movement of support vehicles in an act of protest against election fraud and violent crackdown on peaceful protesters. According to the employer, the strike caused financial damage to the enterprise, which it estimated at 1,080 rubles (340 euros).

On February 1, 2021, the Žlobin District Court sentenced Ihar Povarau to three years in a general-security penal colony.

Povarau pleaded not guilty.

In mid-December 2021 it was reported that Ihar had been transferred to prison regime for one year. The political prisoner was transferred to Hrodna Prison No. 1.

In the beginning of January 2023 Ihar was sent back to the penal colony No. 1.

He was released in the autumn of 2023 after serving his sentence.

Žlobin political prisoner Ihar Povarau is tortured with cold

A former employee of the Žlobin steel plant, Ihar Povarau, has been placed in a solitary-confinement cell for 6 months and is tortured with the cold. Now, during the winter season, the window in his cell is always kept open and the temperature in the cell is practically the same as outside.

 

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