On October 25, 2024, the Supreme Court of Belarus rejected the appeal in the “case of conspiracy to seize state power through unconstitutional means.” The defendants in this case included Anatol Kotau, Olga Karach, Vadzim Dzmitronak, Yauhen Vіlskі, and Veranika Tsapkala, and their original sentences were upheld, as announced by the Belarusian Prosecutor General’s Office.

“The defense argued that the lower court’s sentence was illegal and unfounded, while the prosecutor stated that the evidence against the accused was substantial and that all legal protocols had been observed. The Criminal Division of the Supreme Court’s judicial panel upheld the initial sentence, and the appeal was dismissed, rendering the verdict final,” the statement read.

The Brest Regional Court initially heard the case in a special proceeding, delivering its verdict in absentia on July 8, 2024. Veranika Tsapkala, Yauhen Vіlskі, Anatol Kotau, and Vadzim Dzmitronak also received 12-year sentences.

Additionally, fines were imposed as follows:

– Veranika Tsapkala: 40,000 Belarusian rubles (€11,300)

– Yauhen Vіlskі: 480,000 Belarusian rubles (€135,400)

– Anatol Kotau: 600,000 Belarusian rubles (€170,000)

– Vadzim Dzmitronak: 440,000 Belarusian rubles (€124,000)

The defendants were charged with five criminal offenses: “conspiracy or attempted coup to seize state power by unconstitutional means” (Part 1, Article 357 of the Criminal Code), “assistance to extremist activity” (Parts 1 and 2, Article 361-4), “creation of an extremist formation” (Parts 1 and 3, Article 361-1), “discrediting the Republic of Belarus” (Article 369-1), and “defamation against Alexander Lukashenko” (Part 2, Article 367).

Who Are These Individuals?

Olga Karach is a human rights activist and a 2024 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. She serves as the director of the human rights organization Our House, which advocates for democracy and human rights in Belarus.

Olga Karach is a laureate of well-known international human rights prizes:

• 2023 – Alexander Langer International Peace Prize, Italy
• 2023 – Sean MacBride Peace Prize, Germany
• 2022 – Human Rights Award of the City of Weimar, Germany
• 2019 – the International Peace Award – Bremen, Germany.
• 2010 – International Award “For civil courage” – Radebeul, Germany
• 2007 – “Person of the Year” – Amnesty International for Belarus (for being best in Human Rights defence).

Master of Arts in Political Sciences, European Humanitarian University, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists since 1999.

Member of WILPF.

Active participant in the “Women’s Peace Dialogue” international network.

One of founders and active participant of Global Peacebuilders Summit in Berlin (Germany).

Member of the Board of the European Bureau of Conscientious Objectors (EBCO).

Veranika Tsapkala is the second female face of the Belarusan Revolution 2020, the wife of presidential candidate Valery Tsapkala, whose headquarters merged with those of Viktаr Babaryka and Siarhei Tsіkhanouskі, presidential candidates in 2020.

Her husband Valery Tsapkala, was sentenced in absentia in Belarus to 17 years in prison for public calls for actions against the national security of Belarus, creation of an extremist formation, as well as slander and public insult of Lukashenka, as well as discrediting the Republic of Belarus.

Maryia Kalesnіkava, the third female face of the Belarusian revolution, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for public calls for actions against the national security of Belarus, creation of an extremist formation, as well as conspiracy to seize state power by unconstitutional means. She was recognised as a political prisoner. At the moment Maryia Kalesnіkava has been in prison for more than a year in the status of incommunicado, her lawyers and relatives are not allowed to visit her, parcels and letters are not delivered to her.

Yauhen Vіlskі is the acting chairman of the social-democratic party Narodnaya Hramada. In 2020, he headed Sviatlana Tsіkhanouskaya’s initiative group in Vitebsk region.

Chairman of the Narodnaya Hramada party Mikalai Statkevich was sentenced to 14 years in a special regime colony and recognised as a political prisoner. At the moment he has been in the incommunicado regime for more than 500 days, his lawyers and relatives are not allowed to visit him, parcels and letters are not delivered. Mikalai Statkevich is the only political prisoner sentenced to “special regime” in Belarusan prison, which means additional torture and pressure.

Anatol Kotau is a former high-ranking Belarusian official. He worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lukashenka’s Administration, Lukashenka’s Office, the National Olympic Committee, and was deputy director of the Foundation “Directorate of the II European Games”. He supported the movement for free elections and resigned in protest against electoral fraud, currently he is actively helping Belarusian Olympic champions and athletes in exile.

Vadzim Dzmitronak is a cultural activist and a well-known Minsk architect. He was brutally detained and severely beaten on November 15, 2020, during the action in memory of the artist Raman Bandarenka, who was brutally murdered by police officers in the yard of his own house. Vadzim spent a week in the emergency hospital under police escort, from where he was kidnapped by the same escort and taken to Okrestino (the most famous centre for isolation of offenders for torture), then two days later Vadzim was again taken to the Zhodzina prison hospital for a week, after which he was transferred to the Zhodzina pre-trial detention centre. Then he was transferred by stage to a pre-trial detention center. As a result, on March 17, 2021, he was awarded three years of restriction of freedom with direction, and he illegally fled across the border from Belarus.