Officially, Belarus is not involved in the war in Ukraine, but Alexander Lukashenko supports Vladimir Putin. The Minsk press repeats claims about “Nazis in Ukraine” and “NATO plans” to attack Russia and Belarus. Lukashenko made Belarusian territory available for bombing Ukrainian cities and basing Russian warplanes, and in March 2023, Putin and Lukashenko announced plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. There are now about four thousand Russian soldiers on the territory of the country.
Under the conditions of the war and the Lukashenko regime, it is extremely difficult to find out details about the cases against Ukrainians in Belarus and to assess the legality of sentences and charges: the trials are closed, the Ukrainian embassy does not comment on the situation in order not to harm the detainees, and human rights organizations do not have access to those arrested and their cases, it reports Current Time.
Six years in prison for ‘espionage’
Pavel Kuprienko lived in the Gomel region of Belarus and for the past six years worked as a director of limited liability companies. He was arrested in October 2022. On March 9, 2023, the Gomel Regional Court found Kuprienko guilty of “espionage” and sentenced him to seven years in prison. The process was closed.
On what evidence was he convicted? A report on Kuprienko by a Belarusian television station claimed that he was recruited by Ukrainian military intelligence in 2022 while in Kiev. Images of two documents were subpoenaed as evidence. The first – a letter dated April 21, 2022, which was allegedly signed by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirilo Budanov, according to which Pavlo Kuprienko was given all possible help to cross the Ukrainian border. The second document was a 30-point instruction on the information that Kuprienko was to collect and pass on to the Ukrainian special services.
Together with Kuprienko, Belarusian citizens were convicted, whom he allegedly included in his network of agents. Thus, Taras Macinski, a Ukrainian who received Belarusian citizenship in 2010, was found guilty of treason and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
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He faces the death penalty
Ukrainian citizen Nikolai Shvet could be sentenced to death in Belarus. He was arrested on March 4 and charged with “committing an act of terrorism”, most notably the blowing up of a Russian A-50 military plane at an airport near Minsk on February 26.
Shortly after this incident, the head of the association of former Belarusian security officers BYPOL, Alexander Azarov, said that the plane was blown up by Belarusian citizens with the help of drones and that they were all already out of the country.
No casualties were reported as a result of the incident. In March, the Minsk media published a video of Nikolai Shvet, in which he, being on his knees, admits his crime and says that he collaborated with the Ukrainian secret services.
He sent information through an app
Another citizen of Ukraine, Andrei Shmai, was arrested on January 19, 2023 at his workplace. His mother, who lives in Ukraine, told journalists that her son simply disappeared, and it was only two weeks later that the family learned that Andrei had been detained, when they were called by an investigator. The family could not understand the reasons for the detention, even through a lawyer. According to Belarusian media, the man was accused of collaborating with the Ukrainian intelligence service.
He allegedly “sent information” to Ukraine through a special application. It’s about Signal messenger – a messaging service available to any iOS or Android phone user that uses an end-to-end encryption algorithm. Shmai allegedly sent messages to his younger brother, Ruslan, who works in the Operations Directorate in Chernihiv as deputy commander for operations.
The man is now in pre-trial detention and faces 3 to 7 years in prison.
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“I was told that my son is a threat to the national security of Belarus”
On January 27, 2023, another Ukrainian – 23-year-old Artyom Makovei was arrested. He lived in Belarus since 2009 and worked as a DJ. As his mother, Inna Makovei, recounted, on the eve of his arrest, her son told her that he had been called to the migration service to take a polygraph test. He refused to take it because he didn’t understand why he had to take a polygraph. On January 27, the doors of Artyom’s apartment were broken down and he was detained.
They only told me that my son is a threat to the national security of Belarus and that he will be deported from the country. I came to Belarus, but I was not allowed to see my son. On March 24, he was visited by the lawyer I had hired. I learned from her that in two months he was not interrogated. He does not understand why he was detained, they did not show him any documents. He had many Ukrainian numbers in his phone. He may have posted some photos in support of Ukraine on social media.
Author: Inna Makovei, mother of Artiom Makovei
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Now the woman is waiting for a response with explanations from the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Presidential Administration of Belarus.
Human rights defenders admit that, under the current conditions, they have almost no possibility to help foreigners in Belarus.
Very few people turn to us because our site is blocked in Belarus and people cannot be fully informed about possible assistance. It is also difficult because the Belarusian authorities do not publish statistics on the detention and expulsion of foreigners.
Author: lawyer, Human Constanta
Jurists point out that the phrase “threat to national security” is very broad and can be interpreted by the authorities as they please without any explanation, so it is very difficult to build a defense to challenge the expulsion or deportation of a person on such grounds .
