Iryna Zlobina
sentenced to 9 years of imprisonment
Date of birth: 25 April 1989
Date of detention: 12 January 2021
Charges indicted:
Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
Art. 356 of the Criminal Code — High treason
Sentence: 9 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Judge: Viachaslau Tuleyka
Prison: Penal colony No. 4
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: John Howell, member of the British Parliament
Iryna Zlobina was detained on January 12, 2021 together with journalist and media manager Andrei Aliaksandrau. She was held on suspicion of committing an offense under Part 2 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code (training or other preparation of persons to participate in group actions which gravely violate public order, as well as financing and other support for such activities).
Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Henadz Kazakevich said that Aliaksandrau and Zlobina had been detained “on suspicion of financing protest activities”. According to the official, since August 2020, Aliaksandrau and Zlobina had been financing persons who took part in the protests in Minsk, including by paying fines and reimbursing the costs of imprisonment in the detention facilities of Minsk.
On October 6, 2022, the Minsk Regional Court pronounced the verdicts on the high-profile BelaPAN case—four political prisoners were sentenced to harsh jail sentences and large fines. Judge Viachaslau Tuleika sentenced Zlobina to nine years of imprisonment and a fine of 25,600 rubles ($10,100).
On January 6, 2023, the Supreme Court considered the appeal of the defendants in the BelaPAN case. The verdicts were upheld, and only some wording was slightly changed.
Media workers in BelaPAN case sentenced to up to 14 years in jail
