Trade Union Activist in Belarus Sentenced to 2.5 Years in Prison
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
A new case of criminal prosecution against a trade union activist has been reported. Ruslan Badamshyn, an activist of the Belarusian Free Trade Union (SPB) and a member of the "Panaceya" union of healthcare workers, has been recognised as a political prisoner and sentenced to two years and six months of imprisonment in a general-regime penal colony.
According to available information, Badamshyn was detained at least five times after the 2020 election, repeatedly subjected to administrative charges and short-term administrative detention. In total, he served more than 60 days under administrative arrest. His most recent detention took place on the morning of 28 February 2024. The grounds for the criminal case were his alleged participation in the 2020 protests in Minsk—reportedly including a photograph from a protest action.
On 7 May 2024, the Frunzensky District Court of Minsk heard the case, and Judge Yuliya Krepskaya found him guilty under Article 342 of the Criminal Code (“active participation in actions that grossly violate public order”). At that time, he was sentenced to three years of restriction of liberty without referral to an open-type correctional facility.
However, the pressure did not end there. In June 2025, it became known that Badamshyn had been re-arrested and was being held in a pre-trial detention centre under Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (“facilitating extremist activity”) in connection with the so-called “Gayun case” — prosecutions linked by the authorities to alleged transmission of information about Russian troop movements to channels associated with Ukraine.
In early 2026, it was reported that the court imposed a new sentence of two years and six months of imprisonment in a general-regime penal colony. This case illustrates repeat criminal prosecution, where repression continues even after prior court decisions and time already served under administrative detention.
