Senior woman sentenced to 3.5 years in jail

On 17 June the Pružany District Court sentenced 65-year-old political prisoner activist Alena Hnauk to 3.5 years in a general-security penal colony and a fine of 3,200 rubles (about 950 US dollars).

Judge Yuryi Zhytko passed such a verdict at the request of the prosecutor. Alena was found guilty under two articles of the Criminal Code: Article 367 (defamation of the President of Belarus) and Article 369-1 (discrediting the Republic of Belarus) for her posts on Facebook and Instagram about Kurdish families and the situation of migrants in Belarus. Since 2020, Alena has been targeted by the authorities. She was arrested and charged with administrative offenses 17 times, fined a total of 5,536 rubles (about 1,600 US dollars), her house was searched several, and she was convicted under criminal charges in the notorious ‘dancing protest case’ and for insulting Aliaksandr Lukashenka.Before trial, Alena has been in custody for five months.

In early May, Alena Hnauk went on a hunger strike while being imprisoned. She demanded that the letters she wrote reach the addressees. The activist stayed on hunger strike for more than a week and succeeded in getting her correspondence back.