In Belarus, three musicians from the Irdorath protest group received 1.5 years in prison

A court in Minsk sentenced musicians Anton Shnip, Pyotr Marchenko and his wife Yulia Marchenko. They were found guilty of organizing actions that grossly violate public order (part 1 of article 342 of the Criminal Code). Each of the accused was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison, informs human rights center “Vesna”.

Petr Marchenko and Anton Shnip played in the music group Irdorath. And the singer Yulia Marchenko directed the children’s choir and participated in the performances of the folk group Irdorath as a backing vocalist, notes “Present time”.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the musicians repeatedly led a column of protesters and, using wind instruments, “involved citizens in an unauthorized mass march,” and the artists, with their performances, “strengthened the protest mood of the participants.”

On August 2, at a dacha near Minsk, security officials detained 16 people, including musicians of the Irdorath group. At first, they were brought to administrative responsibility for insubordination to the police (Article 24.3 of the Administrative Code) due to the fact that they allegedly did not open the gates of the house for the law enforcement officers.

Then a criminal case was opened under Art. 342 of the Criminal Code against six musicians: spouses Vladimir and Nadezhda Kalach, Dmitry Shimansky, Anton Shnip and spouses Marchenko. Human rights activists recognized them as political prisoners.

Shimansky was sentenced to three years of “chemistry” (an open correctional institution). He later left Belarus and is now in Warsaw. Vladimir and Nadezhda Kalach received two years in prison for participating in the protest marches on August 16, September 6 and October 25, 2020.