Belarus sentenced 33-year-old Ukrainian Mykhailo Ferenets to three years in prison for his supposed role in the post-election protests that engulfed Belarus late last year.
The Belarusian court found Ferenets guilty of “participation in actions that grossly violate public order” and “vandalizing buildings and damage to property.” The Ukrainian was accused of participating in three protests and leading a group that painted slogans and graffiti in several locations in Minsk by administering a Telegram channel called Brave People.
Ferenets pleaded not guilty in court and refused to testify, according to Viasna, the Belarusian pre-eminent human rights organization that called Ukrainian a political prisoner.
In his last statement, Mykhailo Ferenets told about the psychological and physical violence he suffered at the hands of security forces during 7 months in pre-trial detention facilities.
“In winter, it was so cold that it was only possible to fall asleep when wearing a coat and woolen socks”, Ferentes told the court.
Mykhailo Ferenets, a native of Donetsk, who has been living in Belarus for nine years, was detained on Sept. 16 last year. He was then held for 7 months as a foreigner pending deportation.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry demanded his immediate release.
“We consider the case of Ferenets to be politically motivated, and the verdict to be unfair and illegal,” it is said in a ministry statement. “This is another example of Belarusian ‘justice’, as a result of which dozens and hundreds of local journalists and human rights activists, public activists, students and other Belarus citizens have been imprisoned.”
The Ministry said the illegal conviction of Ukrainian is another manifestation of Belarusian anti-Ukrainian actions.
In May, relations between Kyiv and Minsk broke down after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko hijacked a passenger plane to seize an opposition journalist, Roman Protasevich. The Ukrainian leadership joined the Western world in condemning him.
On July 2, Lukashenko ordered the closure of borders with Ukraine. He claimed he wanted to stop what he called “a huge inflow of weapons” from Ukraine.
Post-election protests in Belarus
The mass demonstrations across the country started after the sham presidential election in Aug. 2020, which gave Lukashenko 80 per cent of the vote. He has been in power since 1994.
The protesters demanded to recognize the oppositionist Svetlana Tikhanovskaya as the legitimate President of Belarus.
Despite massive rallies, Lukashenko held his inauguration on Sept. 23. The protesters were violently dispersed, detained and charged with various crimes.
The United States and European Union, which refused to recognize the election results, sanctioned Belarus for the post-election violence and for forcing the landing of Protasevich’s Ryanair flight while it was flying over Belarus.
Russia has propped up the Lukashenko’s regime. President Vladimir Putin and Lukashenko have met five times since the protests and held several phone calls to discuss strengthening ties.
Read more: Ukraine greenlights individual sanctions against Belarus officials
In September 2020, a month after Lukashenko falsified presidential elections and tortured protesters, Russia provided him with a new $1.5 billion loan.
In 2017, an International Monetary Fund report concluded that the Belarusian economy gets $9 billion in direct and indirect aid per year from Russia, keeping the country afloat.
