On Monday, Maskouski district court of Brest passed a guilty verdict in the case of Russian citizen Irina Wickholm, human rights centre Viasna reports.
Irina Wickholm was detained and taken into custody in late May. The woman was charged under Part 2 of Art. 367 of the Criminal Code (‘slander against the president’).
The criminal case was initiated on the back of her post on Twitter; the defendant inserted a link to the article by the BBC’s Russian service about the forced landing of the Ryanair plane by the Belarusian authorities and added the headline: ‘Lukashenka’s another crime: an act of state aircraft hijacking’.
Judge Yauhen Brehan has found Iryna Wickholm guilty and sentenced her to 1.5 years of imprisonment in a minimum security penal colony.
