Yahor Lebiadok

military analyst, sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment

Prisoner

Date of birth: 17 April 1982

Date of detention: 13 July 2022

Charges indicted:

  • Art. 361-4 of the Criminal Code — Promoting extremist activities

Sentence: 5 years

Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony

Prison sentence start date: 21 March 2023

Judge: Alena Misnik

Prison: Penal colony No. 22

Groups: Activists, Scientists, Telegram channel administrators

Notes: War in Ukraine

Yahor Lebiadok

Yahor Lebiadok, a military analyst, was arrested on July 13, 2022. At first, he was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest under Article 24.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences for ‘disobedience to a lawful order of an official’.

He was not released after he had served his sentence. Pro-government Telegram channels reported Lebiadok to have been arrested as the defendant in a criminal case on ‘promotion of extremist activity’ for his comments for Euroradio.fm (Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code, 'Assistance to extremist activity'). According to the case file, in April and May 2022, "to ensure the operation of a destructive media, the information products of which the court recognized as extremist materials, Lebiadok gave an interview to a representative of the named channel concerning the special military operation conducted by the Russian armed forces on the territory of Ukraine and the role of Belarus in it".

In October, pro-government channels reported that another criminal case had been opened against Yahor Lebiadok based on repetition, and noted that each "interview with extremists constitutes a separate corpus delicti"—under Part 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code ('Assistance to extremist activity committed repeatedly or by a group of persons').

The trial began on December 14, 2022, in the Minsk Regional Court. On December 23, Judge Alena Misnik sentenced Lebiadok to five years imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony.

Yahor is held in penal colony No. 22.

At the end of July 2024, it became known that Yahor had spent at least 10 days in the SHIZO. This was revealed by other convicts of the penal colony.

Mail address: Penal colony No. 22. 225295, Brest region, Ivacevičy, station Damanava, PO Box 20

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