26 September 2016

Source: HRO.org

At Semyonovsk district court in Nizhny Novgorod region, the application for parole by Kirill Silivonchik, a Belarusian citizen, was heard in accordance with Article 205.2, part 1, of the Russian Federation Criminal Code, since he had served the minimum period in a Russian prison colony. He had been found guilty of having "called publicly for the Crimea to be returned to Ukraine". The court refused his application for parole.

During the court hearing, a representative of the prison administration said that the relevant commission was opposed to Silivonchik's application for parole on the basis that Silivonchik is currently on the watch list for people who "study, propagandise and practise an extremist ideology".

The prosecutor supported this position. He admitted, however, that the profile of Silivonchik provided by the administration described him only in positive terms. The head of the prison colony stated that the inmate did not need to serve his full sentence.

Belarus's lawyer Sidorov said: "His character profile is ideal". However, the commission, having looked at all these facts, decided not to support Silivonchik's application for parole in court.

As OVD-Info reports, Silivonchik was put on the extremism watch list in the summer of last year, but found out about it two months after the event and was never given any of the relevant documents. This meant that the time limit for appealing against the administration's decision had already passed.

Kirill Silivonchik is serving a two-year sentence in prison colony no.14 in Nizhny Novgorod region, having been sentenced by Moscow district military court on 9 April 2015. His offence was to have published several pictures on his page on 'VKontakte' social networking site.

As OVD-Info reported, quoting By24.Org, Kirill Silivonchik was brought before the Moscow district court, charged with having infringed the article on "publicly justifying terrorism or publicly calling for terrorism". Judges agreed with prosecutors that Silivonchik "publicly called for Crimea to be returned to Ukraine".

The drawings posted on Silivonchik's VKontakte page were used as evidence during the trial.

His lawyer, Yulia Baronets, told journalists that during the hearing Silivonchik had opted for the tactic intended to result in the shortest sentence: he fully admitted his 'guilt', which simplified the court proceedings. The court took into account the fact that Silivonchik has been disabled since childhood.

Kirill Silivonchik was born in the town of Gomel in Belarus. He went to Russia hoping to earn some money and worked as a systems administrator at a factory in Nizhny Novgorod.

Translated by Suzanne Eade Roberts