Aksana Kolb
Novy Čas editor-in-chief, released awaiting sentence commencement
Date of birth: 10 July 1968
Date of detention: 20 April 2022
Charges indicted:
Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
Sentence: 2 1/2 years
Penalty: restricted freedom in an open penal facility ("khimiya")
Judge: Dzmitryi Karsiuk
"On 20 April the editor-in-chief of Novy Čas newspaper Aksana Kolb was detained. A police squad armed with shields and sledgehammers raided the apartment where she lived. They said that they were taking her to the Investigative Committee for interrogation.
On April 22, it became known that she was charged under part 1 of article 342 of the Criminal Code (Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order or active participation in them). She has been transferred to pre-trial detention center.
On June 15, Aksana Kolb was sentenced in the Centraĺny District Court of Minsk. Judge Dzmitryi Karsiuk found her guilty of participation in actions that grossly violate public order under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code and sentenced her to 2.5 years of restricted freedom in an open-type correctional facility for her participation in one of the rallies in August in 2020. After almost two months of pre-trial detention, Aksana was released in the courtroom awaiting the commencement of the sentence.
