Natallia Turava

sentenced to 13 months in prison, pardoned

Former prisoner

Date of birth: 4 July 1972

Date of detention: 18 August 2021

Charges indicted:

  • Art. 368 of the Criminal Code — Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus
  • Art. 377 of the Criminal Code — Destruction of official documents

Sentence: 13 months

Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony

Date of release: 9 March 2022

Judge: Dzmitryi Shuryn

Prosecutor: Mikhail Yushchuk

Natallia Turava was sentenced on August 18, 2021 to one year and one month of imprisonment in a penal colony by the Lieninski District Court of Brest under Part 1 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code for insulting the president and Part 1 of Art. 377 of the Criminal Code for damaging a protocol.

According to the prosecution, on May 27, 2021, the police arrived at Natallia's home. There, the woman “publicly insulted” Lukashenka with the words “we have a fricking state” and “fricking president”, by which, in the opinion of the state prosecution, committed a crime under Part 1 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code. An hour after saying these words, the investigators searched the woman's apartment. During the raid, according to the prosecution, "wishing to express her superiority and permissiveness," Turava ripped up a police protocol. By doing this, the woman “damaged an official document” (Part 1 of article 377 of the Criminal Code).

After the announcement of the verdict, Natallia was taken into custody.

On March 9, 2022, human rights defenders learned that Natallia and several other women had been pardoned.

Addresses of prisons:

What should I know and how to help?

✉️ Write a letter. Make a scan of your letter or postcard and share it online

🤝 Please use the Russian (or Belarusian) name of the prison

💡 Foreign-language messages may be blocked, so attach a translation (e.g. translate.google.com)

💡 A big guide about helping Belarusian political prisoners from abroad

💡 More tips here

Support “Viasna”