Sviatlana Lupach
in custody
Former prisoner
Date of birth: 24 April 1994
Date of detention: 7 May 2023
Charges indicted:
- Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
Sentence: 1 1/2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Date of release: 2 July 2024
Judge: Mikhail Yurchanka
Sviatlana Lupach is the daughter of the journalist Zmitser Lupach from Hlubokaje (Viciebsk region) who had to flee Belarus in July 2021.
According to the Viasna branch in Viciebsk, in early May 2023, the police arrested Sviatlana Lupach when she was on a countryside holiday with her friends near the town of Hlubokaje. The police came almost at midnight and at first detained everyone but later released everyone except Sviatlana Lupach.
On May 3, 2023, in the Hlubokaje District Court, judge Andrei Tarasevich, sentenced her to 10 days of arrest under Part 2 of Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences ('Dissemination of extremist materials'). After that, she had another trial and was sentenced to 25 base fines (925 Belarusian rubles or approx. $300).
Later, Sviatlana Lupach was transferred to the remand prison in Viciebsk and accused under the notorious Article 342 of the Criminal Code ('Organization or preparation of or active participation in actions grossly disrupting public order').
