Andrej Burlaka

A citizen of Ukraine, participant of the Chernobyl Path in 1996, an annual demonstration that takes place in commemoration of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Member of the UNA-UNSO (Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self Defence). Andrei was born in 1985 in Ukraine, he tried to enter the seminary because he wanted to become a priest. When he was arrested, he was a student of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. He is fluent in Russian, Ukrainian and Polish.

 Chronicle of repression

Burlaka was detained by militia officers in plain clothes in the center of Minsk on 26 April 1996, during the Chernobyl Path. During the march, the militia did not allow participants of the protest to enter the main street of the Belarusian capital, which on several occasions lead to fights between the participants of the march and officers.

Andrej Burlaka was kept in the Volodarka prison in Minsk. During the trial Burlaka, said that he came to Minsk in order to see Belarus, because he was always interested in architecture of old buildings and churches. He also said that the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster is an important day both for Belarus and Ukraine.

According to his relation the investigators threatened to throw him out of the window if he did not sign the documents and admit that he took part in the demonstration. His mother, was not informed by the investigators about the whereabouts of her son, she learned about it accidentally from Ukrainian journalists who were covering the events in Minsk. Burlaka pleaded not guilty. At the end of August 1996 Minsk court sentenced him to a one year of imprisonment in a penal colony. He was released on amnesty in December 1996, along with several other citizens of Ukraine, who were convicted in the same case.

 

 

Cases, concerning this person:

Other political prisoners

  • Andrzej Poczobut
  • Siarhiej Vazniak
  • Ryhor Kijko
  • Aliaksandr Klaskouski
  • Slavomir Adamovich