Mikalai Tsyrto, a figure in the old Belarusbank case, ended up in the KGB pre-trial detention center. The second time — for politics

In late 2017, a group of Belarusbank top managers were convicted of bribery. The First Deputy Chairman of the Board Hennadz Hasapadaryk and Deputy Director of the Department for Work with Valuables Mikalai Tsyrto — together, Executive Director Anatol Bahavik — separately, following them.

The KGB arrested Hasapadaryk in the summer of 2016, followed by Tsyrto. Mikalai Tsyrto was under house arrest for a month and a half, after which he was eventually sent to the pre-trial detention center.

Tsyrto, according to his lawyer, cooperated with the investigation but was sentenced to 9 years in a reinforced-regime penal colony with confiscation of property: 5,000 Belarusbank shares, an apartment in Polotsk, a house and plot of land in Vitebsk region, and other assets.

Hasapadaryk was sentenced to 7.5 years in a penal colony.

Anatol Bahavik, who was sentenced a month after his colleagues, received 8 years in a penal colony.

However, the further fate of all three Belarusbank top managers unfolded unusually.

Bahavik was released on pardon already in May 2018. In 2020, he and his wife Ivanna joined the movement for fair elections.

In 2023, security forces came for them. Ivanna received two years in a penal colony. Anatol received less; the exact term is unknown. As a repeat offender, he ended up in a penal colony in Vawkavysk and fully served his assigned political sentence.

Hennadz Hasapadaryk was also released on pardon. Information about this appeared in late 2019, but it is unknown exactly when the banker was released. Hasapadaryk was given a high position at MTZ, but in 2021 he died from complications of coronavirus.

However, Tsyrto's further biography was previously unknown.

As it turned out, he also received a pardon. But in early 2024, Tsyrto again ended up in the KGB pre-trial detention center, in "Amerikanka." He found himself in the same cell as Nasha Niva's interlocutor.

Павялічыць

Mikalai Tsyrto during the consideration of his first corruption case

Why was Tsyrto taken to the KGB pre-trial detention center a second time? In the cell, he said that he was arrested for transmitting data to the "Black Book of Belarus."

"Allegedly, he sent data on several couriers he knew from his time working at the bank. He didn't say more, and I didn't ask. He was detained sometime in 2023," our interlocutor said.

From Tsyrto's words, the circumstances of how he, Hasapadaryk, and Bahavik found themselves free long before the end of their terms became known.

"Allegedly, the bankers were released after Siarhei Rumas pleaded with Lukashenka for their pardon," our interlocutor said.

At the same time, Tsyrto himself emphasized that, unlike Hasapadaryk, he did not manage to get into a penal colony because he somehow delayed the appeal.

Whether this was actually the case is unknown. The appeal in the case took place at the end of 2017, and the sentences remained unchanged. Hasapadaryk definitely ended up in a penal colony — records of his work there are available in the Social Protection Fund, as confirmed by Belpol.

However, there are indeed no records of Tsyrto's discharge from a penal colony. The discrepancies in terms cannot yet be explained.

What Tsyrto did while free before his detention in 2023 is unknown. Databases are empty for this period. "According to him, he stayed home and looked after his grandchildren," clarifies his former cellmate.

Mikalai Tsyrto's further fate is also unknown. His surname is not on the list of "extremists" or "terrorists," which almost rules out the possibility that he was eventually convicted under a political article.

• 0
• 0
• 0
• 3
• 1
• 0
• 0
• 0