On July 29, 2021 a number of searches among anarchists took place in Minsk, during which anarchists Alexandr Belov and Evgeny Rubashko were detained. During the detention Evgeny Rubashko was tortured, strangled by putting a bag over his head, beaten, as well as forcefully fed an unknown alcoholic liquid. Evgeny was able to give more details about his detention in this interview. Initially, both anarchists were charged under Article 342 of the Criminal Code (Organization of group actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them).
A week later, on August 4, 2021, a second wave of police raids took place, during which anarchists Artem Dmitrievich Solovey and Artem Sergeyevich Solovey were detained. Artem Sergeyevich was immediately charged under Article 342 of the Criminal Code, and Artem Dmitrievich was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest, allegedly for resisting the cops during the arrest. During the detention Artem Dmitrievich was tortured and threatened with rape if he did not agree to unlock his phone. After 15 days of arrest, he was charged under Article 342 of the Criminal Code.
In January 2022, the anarchists were charged under part 3 of article 361-1 of the Criminal Code (Participation in an extremist formation), allegedly for participation in the anarchist collective “Pramen”, which had been recognized as an extremist formation only 2 months before the accusations were announced.
On March 29, 2022 the trial started, 20 minutes later the judge Elena Misnik decided to close the hearing to the public at the request of the prosecutor Alexandr Romanovich.
April 22, 2022, the 4 guys were sentenced by Minsk Regional Court. Alexander Belov, Artem D. Solovey and Evgeny Rubashko were sentenced to 5 years in prison, Artem S. Solovey – to 4.5 years in prison. Evgeny Rubashko’s speech before the sentence has been made public – you can read it here.
In August 2022, all four anarchists were included in the “List of citizens involved in extremist activity”.
All of the guys were participants in the initiative Food Not Bombs – Minsk. Friends and comrades launched a solidarity campaign in support of them #FreedomIsARight, follow it on Instagram and Twitter.
You can support the guys by writing them letters to the following addresses:
Belov Alexandr Andreevich
IK №22, stanciya Domanovo, a/ya 20
Ivacevichy, Brestskaya obl., Belarus, 225295
Rubashko Evgeny Alexandrovich
ST-8, ul. Sovetskaya, 22A
Zhodino, 222163
Solovey Artem Dmitrievich
IK №17, 1-ya Zavodskaya ulica, 8
Shklov, Belarus, 213004
Artem S. Solovey was released on July 3, 2024.