Supreme Court upholds journalist’s prison sentence

December 27, BPN. Having considered an appeal, the Supreme Court on December 27 upheld the sentence against Ksienija Łuckina, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

On September 28, the Minsk City Court sentenced the former state television journalist to eight years in prison.

Judge Taćciana Falkoŭskaja found her guilty of plotting to seize power.

Speaking at the September 21 hearing, the reporter had asked the court “for mercy and humanity, to be allowed to return to society and benefit it, making amends in word and deed.”

She told the judge that she had a brain tumor and needed medical attention outside the prison walls.

A member of the opposition’s coordinating council, Łuckina has been held in detention since December 2020. She was arrested after she had resigned from the Belarusian State Television and Radio Company and attempted to launch an independent YouTube channel.