A 27-year-old Pilot Was Sentenced To 13 Years In Prison For "treason"

• 25.09.2026, 17:47

He graduated from flight school in Ukraine.

The Minsk City Court sentenced 27-year-old Svyatoslav Podvashetsky to 13 years in a maximum-security prison on charges of “treason” and “illegal drug trafficking,” according to the human rights center “Viasna”.

In addition, the court fined him 500 base units.

Podvashetsky graduated from flight school in Ukraine. After completing his studies, he returned to Belarus and underwent an internship at “Belavia.”

The Belarusian man continued to keep in touch with his former classmates, some of whom joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. Shortly before his arrest, the man sent a photo of the aircraft on which he had been training to one of his acquaintances and wrote that he would be flying it.

The trial was held behind closed doors, so the details of the charges and the evidence on which the verdict is based are unknown. Podvashetsky is currently being held at Pretrial Detention Center No. 1 in Minsk.