Alexander Belov was born September 1, 1996, in Minsk, he first graduated from college with a degree in construction, after that he graduated from Belarusian Technical University with a degree in Engineering Geodesy. From his youth, he was a fan of MTZ-RIPO football club.

He himself played in the football team of the DIY league, was fond of Thai boxing, mountaineering.

Political views

Alexander is an anarchist and antafscist. He was a member of Food Not Bombs Minsk.

Detention and conviction

Alexander was detained early in the morning on July 29, 2021 at the exit from the house. During the arrest, he was beaten, his house was searched, after which he was taken to the KGB, where he was tortured and beaten.

Initially, he was accused of actively participating in the protest on August 23, 2020, although by that time he had already served an administrative arrest for this episode.

In January 2022, it became known that Alexander and other defendants in the criminal case were charged with additional charges under Part 3 of Art. 361-1 of the Criminal Code – participation in an extremist formation for subscribing to the Pramen Telegram channel. It is known that at the time of Belov’s detention, Pramen was not included in the list of extremist formations, this happened only in November 2021.

Sentence

The hearing of the criminal case began on 29 March 2022, 20 minutes after the start of the session, the court was made closed on the prosecutor’s motion. Alexander plead not guilty to all the charges.

The sentence was handed down on 22 April 2022: Alexander Belov was sentenced on two counts to five years’ imprisonment in a penal colony.

Prison conditions

He was held in pre-trial detention center number 1, then in pre-trial detention center number 6, and was transferred to correctional colony number 22 to serve his sentence.

During his stay in the pre-trial detention center, he actively wrote letters. After being transferred to the colony, letters reach only relatives and he receives letters only from relatives.

It is known that in the colony he entered a vocational school and studied in the specialty “woodworking”, plays chess, does physical exercises, reads books.

In August 2022, he was included in the “List of citizens involved in extremist activities.”

Friends and comrades launched a solidarity campaign in support of Evgeny Rubashko, Alexander Belov, and Artsiom Solovey #FreedomIsARight, follow it on Instagram and Twitter.

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