On September 7th , Navapolatsk court judge Zinaida Balabolava sentenced Andrei Shkirenka to 15 days of arrest for distributing "extremist materials" in social networks.
During the court hearing Andrei confirmed that he was subscribed to the communities "Rabochy Rukh" and "Basta!" in the social network Instagram, as well as to the community "BYSOL/Belarus Solidarity Fund" in Facebook. He did not know that these communities were recognized as extremist by the authorities. Therefore, the man did not plead guilty to spreading extremism and refused to give explanations.
Taking into account all the circumstances of the administrative case, Judge Balabolava ruled to arrest Shkirenka for fifteen days on the basis of Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, reports "Vitsebskaya Viasna."
Before the liquidation of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BNP), Andrei Shkirenka was one of the leaders of the local trade union organization of the Independent Trade Union. Now former members of the Independent Trade Union are regularly harassed at the factory. Olga Brytykova, a former leader of the BNP local trade union organization at the plant, and a number of activists were arrested more than a month ago. They now face criminal charges in connection with the August 2020 protests.