5 years in prison for theater actor over marijuana

Yanka Kupala Theatre actor Artsyom Barodzich has been sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment in a top security colony without the confiscation of property. Minsk October District Court pronounced the decision on Wednesday, March 2. The prosecutor demanded to imprison Barodzich for 6 years.

The actor for tune guilty of the preservation of marihuana with the purpose of its distribution (p.2 of article 328 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus). He has been smoking marihuana for six years, Barodzich confessed in court. However, he refuted the charges of preserving the drug for future distribution.

However, there is no proof that the actor wanted to sell the drugs, his lawyer said. The police conducted the search in his flat with law violations – they examined the rooms when nobody was present there, she added.

Barodzich’s colleagues from the Yanka Kupala Theatre came to court to support him. All of them came to hear to the sentence.