Belarusian oppositionist sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison in Minsk

The Minsk City Court sentenced in absentia the executive secretary of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian Opposition Ivan Kravtsov to 11 years in a maximum security colony, reported TV channel “Present Time” with link to the Belarusian human rights center “Viasna”.

The Belarusian authorities accused Kravtsov of inciting social discord, plotting to seize power, and creating an extremist group.

Previously, he was also charged with fraud on an especially large scale, but the court found no grounds to charge him with this crime.

Ivan Kravtsov is a member of the organizing committee of the Razam party and the headquarters of the unregistered presidential candidate of Belarus in the 2020 elections, Viktor Babariko.

In September 2020, Kravtsov, as well as his ally Maria Kolesnikova and press secretary of the Coordination Council Anton Rodnenkov, were forcibly taken by Belarusian security forces to the border with Ukraine. The Belarusian authorities, as subsequently told Kravtsov to the Current Time TV channel, there was a plan to film a propaganda story about how the “most-most” famous leaders are fleeing the country. As a result, Rodnenkov and Kravtsov crossed the border, but Kolesnikova refused to do so and tore up her passport. A year later, a Belarusian court sentenced her to 11 years in prison.

Ivan Kravtsov now lives in Ukraine.