What happened near Svetlagorsk, according to the version of the police and the court

On February 28, 2022, four days after the beginning of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, on the Zherdz-Ostankavichy railway line near Svetlogorsk, the signaling, centralization and blocking relay cabinet burned down as a result of arson.

As a result, the traffic lights and turnouts on one of the sections of the Zhlobin-Kalinkavichy railway, which continues to Ukraine, were decommissioned.

Shortly after the incident, mass detentions and interrogations began in Svetlagorsk.

On March 4, the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that the suspects in setting fire to the relay box were detained, they are residents of Svetlagorsk

All of them know each other and are related.

Dmitrii Ravich is the husband of Denis Dikun's sister.

Oleg Malchanov is the father of Denis Dikun's wife.

Until the trial, the detainees were in the pre-trial detention center, the process was closed.

The case was considered by judge Anatol Sotnikov.

Residents of the district center were charged with the following articles of the Criminal Code:

• Act of terrorism (Part 3 of Article 289 of the Criminal Code),

• Deliberate breakdown of vehicles (parts 2 and 4 of Article 309 of the Criminal Code),

• Treason against the state (Part 1 of Article 356 of the Criminal Code),

• Participation in extremist formation (Part 3 of Article 361-1 of the Criminal Code).

The human rights community recognized all the accused in this case as political prisoners.

"Sentences do not lend themselves to common sense, they are simply diabolical"

Dmitry

, brother of Denis Dikun, took an active part in the events

year in Belarus.

Due to persecution, he had to leave the country, now he lives abroad.

Svoboda talked to him about his brother and some circumstances of the case.

Dmitriy says that after his arrest, Denis was severely beaten.

This can be seen in the "repentant video", which was distributed on March 4 by pro-government Telegram channels.

"He was seen at the police station after the arrest.

He was holding his side and limping.

In addition, there are traces of beatings on his face," says Dmitriy Dikun.

From time to time, Denis went to Russia to earn money.

He then lived in Svetlogorsk, where he had a common-law wife.

After Dzianis' arrest, they signed off, already in the pre-trial detention center.

The father of Denisova's wife, Oleg Malchanov, was behind bars.

Before his arrest, he worked as an entrepreneur.

The third detainee, Dmitrii Ravich, worked as an electrician at a branch of Belarusneft.

His wife and two children are waiting for him at home.

Dmitriy's wife is Denis Dikun's sister.

"Actually, we don't know much, because the court was completely closed.

But the fact that they were accused of terrorism and treason is simply diabolical.

People wanted to help stop the war, and this was interpreted as "treason".

They did not do anything to accuse them of terrorism and treason.

There is no evidence for this," says Dmitriy Dikun.

He says that the family understood that there would be long terms for such articles.

"We don't have a judge, they just took these articles from their heads.

What can be a normal, adequate reaction to such judgments, such terms?

How can relatives perceive such terms in general?

There is nothing adequate in the sentence," says the accused's brother.

Dmitriy adds that his brother and his brother's father-in-law are often sick in the pre-trial detention center.

"But they hold on.

They try to hold on.

The photo from the court shows that they even smiled at the verdict," he added.

What about other "rail partisans"?

In March 2022, the Telegram channel "MotolkoPomogi" reported that Belarusian "rail partisans" committed at least 10 acts of sabotage on the railway.

On the night of March 30, the relay cabinet was destroyed on the Savichi-Berezin stretch near Babruysk.

Security forces opened fire on the "partisans" with combat weapons.

Later, pro-government Telegram channels distributed footage of these events.

For setting fire to the relay cabinet, the security forces detained the residents of Bobruisk

On December 22, the Minsk Regional Court handed down a sentence to

, a resident of the Minsk region, behind closed doors .

He received 16 years of imprisonment.

The criminal case was considered by the Investigative Committee, which ruled that 40-year-old Vitaly Melnyk set fire to the relay box of the automatic blocking traffic light in March 2022 on the Navsada - Barysau railway line, thereby disabling the railway's signaling system.

This allegedly created a real threat of serious consequences in the form of an accident, damage to rolling stock, death or injury to people.

Vitaly was shot in the knees during the arrest.

He still gets around on crutches.

"During the arrest of the suspect, the officers of the internal affairs bodies reasonably used firearms - they shot him in the lower extremities," the prosecutor's office reported.

Now the Gomel Regional Court is considering a closed-door criminal case against the residents of Mazyr

They are accused of intending to damage the railway in order to slow down or stop the movement of Russian troops to Ukraine through Mazyr.

They were also prosecuted for incidents on the railway

and Kateryna Hlebki from Stouptsi, railroad worker Siarhei Kanavalov from Vitebsk.