Minsk blogger, mother of two Volha Takarchuk gets 1.5 years in jail


On December 20, Zavodski district court of Minsk passed a guilty verdict in the case of Minsk-based blogger Volha Takarchuk, the human rights centre Viasna reports.

On May 19, the police searched Volha’s flat and arrested her. Previously, she had been repeatedly detained and fined amid the 2020 protests in Belarus.

The 36-year-old woman was charged withdefamation’ (Article 188 of the Criminal Code), ‘insulting a judge’ (Article 391) and ‘organisation of actions that grossly violate public order’ (Article 342). She was faulted for participating in protests on August 30, September 20 and November 1, 2020. According to the investigation, she ‘persistently violated public order for a long time’, chanted slogans and blocked traffic. In addition, Takarchuk was accused of posting videos on YouTube, in which she voiced ‘shameful information’ and ‘insults’ relating to pro-Lukashenka officials.

In late August, the videos which the imprisoned vlogger had been publishing during the post-election protests disappeared from her YouTube channel. which currently has more than 32,000 subscribers. Despite the fact that Volha has two minor children, changing the measure of restraint was denied to her – she was being held in remand prison Nr 8 in the town of Zhodzina (Minsk region).

Today judge Alena Kaptsevich has taken heed of the public prosecution’s demand and sentenced Volha Takarchuk to 1.5 years of imprisonment in a minimum security penal colony.

The Belarusian human rights community recognised her as a political prisoner.

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