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Belarusian National Jailed In Russia For Pro-Ukrainian Stance


HOMEL, Belarus -- A 22-year-old Belarusian IT engineer has been sent to jail for pro-Ukrainian activities on the Internet.

A Belarusian civil right activist, Paval Yukhnevich, told RFE/RL on April 20 that Kiryl Silivonchyk from the southeastern city of Homel, was arrested in December in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, where he worked for a software company.

Silivonchyk and several of his Russian colleagues were charged with inciting "terrorism" online.

Yukhnevich quoted Silivonchyk's relatives as saying that on April 9, the Moscow District Military court sentenced Silivonchyk to two years in a minimum security penal colony.

Investigators said that Silivonchyk had posted several statements condemning Russia's annexation of Crimea last year and allegedly calling for the killing of Russians.

One of the pictures, Silivonchyk allegedly placed on his account in the Russian social network VKontakte showed a Ukrainian soldier "desecrating" the Russian flag.

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