Businessman, Convicted For "agent Activity" In Belarus, Went On Hunger Strike
1- 20.01.2026, 19:21
- 6,746
Sergei Botvich is a citizen of Lithuania and France.
Hunger strike was declared by a native of Belarus, citizen of Lithuania and France, political prisoner Sergei Botvich, who in the fall of 2022 received 13 years for "agent activity" and is now in the punitive isolation ward (PIZO) of penal colony № 22 near Ivatsevichy (it's called "Wolf's Den"). Information about this "Zerkalo" was passed on to Zerkalo through the released convicts.
The hunger strike is complicated by the presence of serious diseases in Botvich.
- There are no medicines that he needs in Belarus, and his relatives are not allowed to bring him the necessary drugs. Hunger strike is a mortal risk for him," the source told "Zerkalo," emphasizing that the fact that Botvich decided to go on hunger strike indicates that he has no other options left.
Sergei Botvich is a businessman, who has no Belarusian citizenship, but was born and lived in our country. In the 80s he went to France as a student exchange student (he studied at the Minsk Institute of Foreign Languages, now it is the Belarusian State University of Foreign Languages (BSUFL)).
Later he received French citizenship, followed by Lithuanian citizenship. Sergei did business in Belarus, Russia, France and Lithuania - mainly tourism and wholesale coal exports from Eastern Europe to the Baltic States and Western Europe.
In 2014, he decided to build a charcoal plant in his small homeland near Svisloch (he was born in the agro-town of Novy Dvor in the Svisloch district of Grodno region). He invested about a million dollars in the project.
As Nasha Niva wrote in 2023, at some point Botvich's business began to fall apart. It is not known what exactly happened, but the coal plant was never built, and the entrepreneur was criminally prosecuted in June 2018. According to the "Cyberpartisan" bases, the Fabula of the criminal case against the man sounds like this:
"Botvich Sergei <�...> deliberately, out of selfish intentions, not intending to fulfill the obligations undertaken, by deceit and abuse of trust, on the basis of participation in the investment project for the construction of a coal production plant, took possession of the funds of Erabl Group LLC in the amount of 734 thousand euros."
Proceedings on it were terminated. The reason - impossibility to carry out investigative actions, without which a decision on the termination of the preliminary investigation cannot be made (paragraph 5, part 1, article 246 of the Code of Criminal Procedure) - was most likely due to the fact that the man was abroad. But not because Botvich had run away. It is rather just a legal reason, wrote "Nasha Niva". In the same 2018, according to the "Passenger Flow" database, Botvich visited Belarus 19 times, once in 2019 and three times in 2020. He last entered Belarus in 2021 and was detained.
- Then there was a year and a half in solitary confinement, accusations of working first for French and then Lithuanian intelligence. A closed trial. 13 years. Not admitting guilt," those to whom Botvich told his story shared details with Zerkalo.
- According to them, there was no evidence of espionage, except for the words of one witness, who "was detained with his family at the border crossing 'Privalka' and right there was forced to testify against Botvich by threats, after which he was allowed to leave for Lithuania."
- Siarhei Botvich has already complained to the General Prosecutor's Office of Belarus from IK22 "Wolf holes", demanding to explain the essence of the charges, because nowhere does it say what he did. If it's agent activity and espionage, then what secret data did he try to find out? After all, there must be some corpus delicti for the appointed 13 years. In response, he received a letter saying that all this data is secret, and therefore he can't be told what he has been in jail for for so many years," the convicts reported Botvich's words.
They expressed concern that, given Botvich's state of health, he really doesn't have much time.
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