Tatsiana Kurylina
sentenced to 4 1/2 years of imprisonment
Prisoner
Date of birth: 5 June 1973
Date of detention: 22 August 2022
Charges indicted:
- Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
- Art. 361 of the Criminal Code — Calls for actions aimed at causing harm to the national security of the Republic of Belarus
- Art. 369 of the Criminal Code — Insulting a government official
- Art. 368 of the Criminal Code — Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus
- Art. 366 of the Criminal Code — Violence or threat against an official performing official duties or another person performing a public duty
- Art. 130 of the Criminal Code — Incitement to hatred
- art. 188 of the Criminal Code — Defamation
- Art. 367 of the Criminal Code — Slander against the President of the Republic of Belarus
- Art. 203-1 of the Criminal Code — Illegal actions with respect to information about private life and personal data
Sentence: 4 1/2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Judge: Mikalai Dolia
Prison: Penal colony No. 4
Notes: Detention upon return to Belarus
Groups: Telegram channel administrators
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Elisabeth Götze
Tatsiana Kurylina faced a number of criminal charges:
- Part 3 of Article 361 ('Calls for restrictive measures (sanctions) aiming to harm the national security of Belarus')
- Article 369 ('Contempt of a public official')
- Part 1 of Article 342 ('Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order or active participation in them')
- Part 1 of Article 203-1 ('Illegal actions related to the privacy information and personal data')
- Part 1 of Article 130 ('Inciting other social hatred')
- Part 3 of Article 203-1 ('Illegal actions related to the privacy information and personal data')
- Article 188 ('Defamation')
- Part 1 of Art. 367 ('Defamation against the President of Belarus')
- Part 2 of Article 367 ('Repeated defamation against the President of Belarus')
- Part 2 of Art. 203-1 ('Illegal actions related to the privacy information and personal data')
- Part 1 of Article 368 ('Contempt of the President of Belarus')
- Part 2 of Article 366 ('Violence or threat of violence against an official performing their official duties or another person performing a public duty')
The trial began on December 28, 2022, in the Homieĺ Regional Court. Judge Mikalai Dolia tried the case behind closed doors.
On March 30, 2023, the court found Tatsiana Kurylina guilty and sentenced her to four years and six months of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony. Besides she is to pay 100 base fines (3,700 Belarusian rubles, approx. $1,250) and large compensations for moral damages to "heavily offended and injured persons" totaling 23,500 Belarusian rubles (approx. $7,942).
