Leanid Raichonak

Prisoner

Date of birth: 12 December 1986

Date of detention: 10 July 2023

Charges indicted:

  • Article 361-3 of the Criminal Code — Participation or preparing to participate in hostilities on foreign soil by a Republic of Belarus citizen

Sentence: 6 years

Penalty: imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony

Judge: Filonik Vera

Prosecutor: Henadz Bury

Cases: Donations

Groups: IT specialists

Leanid Raichonak, a former iOS developer at Viber, and father of two young children, signed a collective petition condemning violence and police brutality in August of 2020.

In the summer of 2023, he was detained on the Belarusian-Polish border and subsequently held in custody at Brest pre-trial detention center No. 7.

On October 17, 2023, Leanid was sentenced to six years of imprisonment in a medium-security penal colony. He was convicted for making donations to the Belarusian volunteers in Ukraine under Part 2 of Article 361-3 of the Criminal Code. Judge Vera Filonik passed the sentence.

The hearing of Leanid's appeal in the Supreme Court was scheduled for December 12, 2023. Chairman of the Justice Commission Ihar Bukata left the sentence in force.

      On December 15, 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs added Leanid to the list of extremists.

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