Condemned REP union leaders under strict house arrest rules

On 24 August 2018, Gennady Fedynich and Igor Komlik, two leaders of the Belarusian Radio and Electronics Industry Workers’ Union (REP), were found guilty of tax evasion and failing to submit tax declarations during 2011 to 2012. The two were sentenced to four years’ suspended imprisonment and a ban on holding senior positions for five years. They were also fined US$23,000 and made to pay the costs of the trial.

The trumped-up charges and the court decision have been described by international unions as an attack on the trade union movement and a miscarriage of justice.

Two years on, Fedynich and Komlik are under strict house arrest order: they must be in their home from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. on weekdays, they do not have the right to leave their home on weekends and they do not have the right to leave Minsk.