Iryna Harachkina
sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment
Former prisoner
Date of birth: 6 February 1976
Date of detention: 1 December 2020
Charges indicted:
- Art. 295 of the Criminal Code — Unlawful acts against firearms, ammunition and explosives
Sentence: 6 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Date of release: 16 September 2024
Judge: Maksim Filatau
Prosecutor: Liudmila Herasimenka, Uladzimir Rabau
Notes: Pardon / amnesty
Cases: The Autukhovich case
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Octavie Modert, Member of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies
Iryna Harachkina received six years and one month of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony and a fine of 9,600 Belarusian rubles ($3,800) in a high-profile Autukhovich case. She was convicted of
- ‘illegal actions in relation to objects which action is based on use of combustible substances’ (Article 295-3) and
- ‘misprision of felony’ (Part 1 of Article 405 of the CC).
The defendants in the case were political activist Mikalai Autukhovich, priest Siarhei Rezanovich, his wife Liubou Rezanovich, their son Pavel Rezanovich, pensioner Halina Dzerbysh, activist Uladzimir Hundar, activist Volha Mayorava, pensioner Iryna Melkher and her son Anton Melkher, and Iryna Harachkina, Viktar Snehur and Pavel Sava. They have been held behind bars for 22 months. Only two of them fully admitted their guilt. All of them were detained in December–January 2020. The authorities immediately declared Autukhovich the organizer and leader of a “terrorist group” that operated in the Hrodna region and allegedly set police officers’ cars and houses on fire.
The trial lasted five months. The verdict was pronounced on October 17, 2022, in the Hrodna Regional Court. Judge Maksim Filatau imposed jail terms ranging from two and a half to 25 years. Deputy chair of the prosecutor's office Liudmila Herasimenka and senior assistant prosecutor Rabau represented the state prosecution at the trial. The people's assessors were Stavorka, Zhdanovich, and Nichypor.
She was pardoned and released on September 16, 2024.
Mikalai Autukhovich gets 25 years in jail, members of his ‘group’—up to 20