Syarhei Parsyukevich ( be, Сяргей Парсюкевіч, Siarhiej Parsiukievič; born 14 May 1967, in

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Viciebsk (russian: Витебск, ; be, Ві́цебск, ; , ''Vitebsk'', lt, Vitebskas, pl, Witebsk), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, it has 366,299 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-largest ci ...

) is a

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

ian small businessman who was sentenced to 2.5 years of jail and a compensation of 1.5 million Br for protesting against a decree introducing severe limitations for

small and medium enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

. His arrest became a large scandal in Belarus, Parsyukevich is considered by many, including the US

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

to be a political prisoner. Parsyukevich is a retired police officer who started doing his business in

Viciebsk Vitebsk or Viciebsk (russian: Витебск, ; be, Ві́цебск, ; , ''Vitebsk'', lt, Vitebskas, pl, Witebsk), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, it has 366,299 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-largest ...

in 2004. He was leader of a union of individual businessmen of the "Smalensk market". On 10 January, he took part in a demonstration of small and medium businesspeople in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

protesting against the presidential decree #760 that introduced limitations to SME's business (for instance, allowing them to hire only relatives of the business owner). On 13 January, he was arrested in

and brought to Minsk. On the following day he was given 15 days of arrest for participating in the demonstration. During this period he went on

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

. On 21 January, Syarhej Parsyukevich was probably strongly beaten up in jail by a policeman. Soon after his liberation, he was accused of having beaten up the policeman himself. On 23 April, the next day after the final trial of

Andrei Kim Andrei Kim ( be, Андрэй Кім, born February 26, 1986, in Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union) is a Belarusian youth and Christian social activist sentenced to 1.5 years imprisonment and considered by many as political prisoner. Andrei is ...

, another person considered as political prisoner, Parsyukevich was sentenced to 2.5 years of jail and a compensation of 1.5 Million Br. The fact that he is a former police officer is considered as a fact to threaten current policemen not loyal to the regime of president

Lukashenka Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luka ...

References

External links

Political prisoner Syarhei Parsyukevich

Vitsebsk entrepreneur Syarhei Parsyukevich is arrested for 15 days
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsyukevich, Syarhei 1967 births Living people People from Vitebsk Belarusian businesspeople Belarusian prisoners and detainees