First Deputy CEO of "Belvest" Sentenced to Three and a Half Years for Politics
Viktar Huryn managed major projects in Belarus and Russia, implemented artificial intelligence and robots in shoe production, but became another victim of political persecution.
Viktar Huryn is 57 years old. He was born in Pinsk, where he graduated from local school No. 6. He received higher education at the Faculty of Radiophysics of Belarusian State University, and later also graduated from the Academy of Management.
The manager has many years of experience as a leader: he headed a department in the Russian tire holding Amtel, managed the trading house of the "Beldzyarzhkharshpram" concern in Russia, worked as the first deputy general director of "Norilskgazprom" and "Taimyrgaz" within the "Norilsk Nickel" structure, and also managed the companies "Izabud" and "Bauservice".
From 2017 to 2021, Huryn headed the company "Composite Constructions" — an ambitious project in the "Great Stone" industrial park, worth 220 million euros, which was intended to become a major scientific and production center in the field of polymer composites.
After working as an operational director at the furniture holding "Angstrem", Viktar took the position of First Deputy General Director of "Belvest" in December 2022. There, he oversaw innovative projects — the transition of production to digital dimension, automatic leather cutting, and the implementation of robotic complexes with machine vision and neural network systems.
And in March 2026, the top manager was detained by law enforcement officers. According to "Viasna", the reason for the criminal case was his messages in Telegram chats in 2020 and 2021 with sharp criticism of the actions of law enforcement officers and Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
The Minsk City Court found Viktar Huryn guilty under a number of articles: "inciting hatred" (Part 1 of Art. 130 of the Criminal Code), "insulting Lukashenka" (Part 1 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code), "insulting a representative of authority" (Art. 369 of the Criminal Code), as well as "assisting extremist activities" (Parts 1 and 2 of Art. 361-4 of the Criminal Code).
Viktar Huryn was sentenced to three and a half years in a penal colony under strict regime conditions and a large fine of 600 basic units.
Mass political repressions in the country began after 2020. At that time, Alyaksandr Lukashenka lost to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya but did not cede power to her, forcing her to leave the country. Mass popular protests against dictatorship and election falsification took place. The authorities responded with repressions.
According to the calculations of the "Belpol" association of law enforcement officers and human rights defenders, the names of at least 10,050 people who faced politically motivated criminal cases are known. In total, various political repressions (criminal cases, administrative charges, dismissals, searches, forced emigration) affected hundreds of thousands of Belarusians.
"Extremism" in Belarus is considered by the authorities to be the demand for free elections with transparent vote counting, as well as virtually any criticism of the authorities, pro-Russian historical narratives, expressions of solidarity with Ukraine, and anti-war speeches.
«Nasha Niva» — the bastion of Belarus
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