In Canada, a young Belarusian man ran a pimping network while in local pre-trial detention

The Quebec Provincial Court (Canada) has issued a verdict against Siarhei Klyanouski, a native of Belarus, who managed a pimping network from a local pre-trial detention center using a contraband mobile phone.

Klyanouski is an only child. He came to Canada with his parents at the age of 4; they separated shortly thereafter. His father worked in long-haul trucking and was away from home most of the time. His mother worked as a cleaner.

He had no difficulties in elementary school, but in high school, he faced problems due to truancy. He received his high school diploma at the age of 21 through an adult education system.

In his teenage years, he began to have conflicts with the law – according to him, some friends "had a bad influence on him," introducing him to alcohol and drugs. He continued to use marijuana even while imprisoned.

During his teenage years, Klyanouski helped his stepfather load trucks at the warehouse where he worked, and also worked as a janitor in the building where he lived, and for several months in a bakery-cafe. At 16, he was sent to a juvenile center, where he stayed until he was 18 due to violations of detention conditions. He never had a full-time permanent job, but a few months before his arrest, he bought a car that he rented out to individuals with poor credit histories.

According to the case materials, Klyanouski met a woman with the initials M.H. while he was already in custody at the Montreal pre-trial detention center. She began engaging in prostitution, and the profits were transferred to Klyanouski. Contact between them was maintained daily via a phone he managed to acquire while incarcerated.

In February 2020, with Klyanouski's permission, M.H. recruited another woman — 21-year-old A.A., who at that time found herself in a difficult financial situation after her mother kicked her out of the house.

The two women went to Vancouver, where, according to the initial agreement, A.A. was supposed to give 50% of her earnings. Ultimately, she was demanded to give 100% and her movements, contacts, and work schedule were completely controlled.

An analysis of Klyanouski's phone after his arrest showed more than 12,000 text messages between him and M.H. In the messages, he controlled the distribution of earned money to various bank accounts and pressured M.H. to keep A.A. in line.

When A.A. fell in love with a client and tried to stop engaging in prostitution, Klyanouski and M.H. began to threaten her. As a result, A.A. was left alone, without money or housing, in an unfamiliar city — after which she contacted the police.

The court found Klyanouski guilty of human trafficking, obtaining material benefit from this trafficking, intimidation against A.A., and also of obtaining benefit from sexual services and pimping in relation to M.H.

In total, Klyanouski's criminal record includes dozens of offenses — for theft, blackmail, participation in sexual violence, fraud, and numerous violations of supervision conditions. While in custody, he also received 17 disciplinary reports, including for possessing a weapon and participating in a brutal assault on a cellmate.

The judge sentenced Klyanouski to 7 years in prison for human trafficking, 4 years for profiting from human trafficking, 2 years for intimidation (all terms served concurrently), and 4 and 3 years respectively for pimping and profiting from pimping in M.H.'s case. Given that the Belarusian spent almost seven years in pre-trial detention before the verdict, most of the sentences are already considered served — except for 54 days for the main charge of human trafficking.

So, he was released two months after the trial.

Additionally, the court declared Klyanouski a "long-term offender" and sentenced him to 10 years of supervision after release — taking into account that he plans to resume his relationship with M.H. after release, and his motivation for rehabilitation, according to an expert, "raises doubts."

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