The court of the Zheleznodorozhny district of Gomel issued a verdict in a criminal case on preparation for the seizure of buildings of state bodies, the accused in which were four confidants of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.

According to Tut.by, the court appointed Yuri Vlasov six and a half years in a maximum security colony, Dmitry Ivashkov and Alexander Shabalin – six years in a maximum security colony, Tatyana Kanevskaya – six years in a general regime colony.

The state prosecutor insisted on exactly these terms of imprisonment.

In March, the Investigative Committee of Belarus released a video in which, it was alleged, the country’s presidential candidate from the opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya discusses with her proxies the seizure of administrative buildings in Gomel.

As it turned out, four of Tikhanovskaya’s associates, captured on the video, were detained even before the start of the presidential elections in August 2020 and accused of preparing for riots and the seizure of buildings. All of them pleaded not guilty in court. Representatives of Tikhanovskaya confirmed that she was also present in the video, but stressed that she never participated in the development of plans to seize buildings and always advocated only peaceful methods of protest.

(C)MEDUZA 2021