Student in Belarus sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for sharing criticism of Ukraine war

A court in Belarus sentenced a 20-year-old student from the eastern city of Mahiliou to 6.5 years in prison for expressing criticism Ukraine war and Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the country’s authoritarian ruler and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Danuta Pyarednya, a former student of Kulyashou Mahiliou State University, was arrested on Feb. 28 after sharing a text criticizing Lukashenka and Putin for waging war in Ukraine, reports Amnesty International.

She was accused of “harming the national interests of Belarus” and “insulting the President,” the latter of which Amnesty said “should not be criminalized in the first place.”

On Tuesday, Pyrarednya was found guilty of the charges and sentenced to six and a half years in a penal colony.

Critics of Belarus’s increasing crackdowns on free expression since the outbreak of the war called for her release.

“The Belarusian authorities are increasingly clamping down on all dissent and continuing to support Russia in its aggression against Ukraine,” Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said in a statement.

 Danuta Pyarednya and all persons in Belarus jailed for peacefully expressing their opinions and speaking out against the war must be released immediately and all charges against them dropped.”

“There is no justice in Belarus,” tweeted Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled leader of Belarus’s democratic movement.

“Her act of so-called 'terrorism’ was to share a text criticizing Putin & Lukashenka for the war in Ukraine. Danuta's courage makes them so afraid that they have to lock her up.”

There is no justice in Belarus. Excellent student Danuta Pyarednya was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison. Her act of so-called "terrorism" was to share a text criticizing Putin & Lukashenka for the war in 🇺🇦. Danuta's courage makes them so afraid that they have to lock her up. pic.twitter.com/cY9IPOIeqT

— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) July 5, 2022

Lukashenka allowed Russian forces to use Belarus as a staging ground for months before the invasion and supported his longtime ally and support Putin since it began.

In March, the government introduced the death penalty for attempts to carry out alleged acts of terror, which critics warned could be used to target opposition members and activists.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the policy as a new way “to intimidate and punish its own citizens.”

“The regime has levied politically motivated charges of ‘extremism’ and ‘terrorism’ against many of the more than 1,100 political prisoners and used such labels to detain tens of thousands more,” Blinken said in a statement at the time.

“These are citizens of Belarus seeking to freely exercise their fundamental freedoms – peaceful protesters, civil society members, journalists, political opponents and those arrested for opposing Russia’s unjustified war against Ukraine and Belarus’s enabling role in it.  These citizens now also face the threat of the death penalty.”