The man was detained after 2021. Botvich was charged with two counts: "espionage" and "intelligence activity." The man in question is a 59-year-old man who, although not a Belarusian citizen, grew up and lived in Belarus. He is Sergei Ivanovich Botvich, the owner of companies with a combined turnover of hundreds of thousands of dollars, some of which were registered in the EU.
Sergei has done business in Belarus, Russia, France, and Lithuania (and holds citizenship in these countries )—primarily in tourism and wholesale coal exports from Eastern Europe to the Baltic and Western European countries. During the "fat years," Botvich's companies generated several hundred thousand dollars annually. In 2014, Botvich participated in a project to build a charcoal plant near the Svisloch River. Another major project of his was the purchase of the Bogudenki estate near the Svisloch River for $30,000.
"I was kept in solitary confinement for a year and a half, subjected to 10-hour cross-examinations, and deprived of food and water due to chronic illnesses—diabetes, post-thrombotic syndrome, hypertension, and gout," Botvich describes the conditions in his letter. According to him, Belarusian security forces wanted him to "incriminate himself about alleged espionage activities for Lithuania." He also wrote in the letter that the security services threatened his family, demanding that his wife and child come to Belarus and bring Sergei's work phone.
Former prisoners reported that Botvich works in the open air at the prison, performing low-skilled labor in all weather conditions, sawing boards with a two-handed saw or stripping wires and cables for non-ferrous metal. There is no building in the industrial zone where prisoners can hide or even temporarily warm themselves in the winter—the room where they change clothes is locked until evening.
People who were imprisoned in the same colony as Botvich speak of his poor health.
