Two protesters released after serving sentences, one activist is on trial

June 16, BPN. Blogger Volha Takarčuk and arts student Anastasija Mironcava, convicted in connection with 2020 post-election protests on charges seen by rights defenders as politically motivated, have been released from Homiel’s Penal Colony No. 4, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

Takarčuk was arrested several times in connection with protests in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. In May 2021, she was charged with insulting a judge, slandering an election commission official and grossly violating public order. In December 2021, a court in Minsk sentenced her to 18 months in prison, which she served in full.

Mironcava was considered one of the best students at the Belarusian State Academy or Arts, but was expelled because of her failure to pass state exams as she was in custody at that time. She was sentenced to two years in prison for gross violations of public order and an assault on a police officer during the 2020 post-election protests. Her sister Viktoryja Mironcava remains behind bars.

In a separate development, judge Volha Smirnova of the Małaryta District Court in Brest region started hearing in the criminal case against Ludmiła Ramanovič, a local activist of the Belarusian Popular Front, who is also considered a political prisoner.

Ramanovič is accused of insulting Alaksandr Łukašenka in a letter that she sent to his administration’s website, protesting Belarus’ participation in the war against Ukraine and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Belarus. Since April 7, she has been held in a pre-trial detention center in Brest.