21-Year-Old Girl Was Sentenced to Two Months of Arrest for the Inscription "Long Live Belarus!"

It's time to stop the Lukashists' lawlessness.

The Leninski District Court of Minsk punished 21-year-old Maryja Safonava for the inscription "Long Live Belarus" and the image of a white-red-white flag on a house on Baltyjskaya Street and a sidewalk path with two months of arrest. This is the kind of punishment requested by the state prosecutor Julia Dauhala. This is almost the maximum punishment under article 341 of the Criminal Code, according to which the girl was tried, writes spring96.org.

According to the prosecution, Maryja "On October 7, from 1 to 2 am, acting in a group of persons by prior agreement, between houses 2 and 4 on Baltyjskaya Street, made cynical inscriptions and desecrated the building, the door to the basement and the railings, sidewalk paths and trash cans."

With her inscription "Long live Belarus," according to the prosecution, Maryja "reduced the aesthetic features of these objects, thereby causing damage to Remavtodor by 442 rubles, housing, and communal services - by 61 rubles, and Mingorsvet - by 53 rubles".

The total amount of "damage" was 556 rubles. In the materials of the case, there are the testimony of "witnesses," recordings of video cameras, examination protocols.

Maryja responded by saying that she put the inscription because she is Belarusian and wanted to emphasize her civic position and her nationality in this way. Maria said that she wanted to express her position that Belarusians live here.

As Maryja explained, the decision to put the inscriptions arose after, on October 5, a group of people guarded by AMAP with a pump-action gun made inscriptions "for Belarus" on a transformer box on Baltyjskaya Street.

In turn, Maryja's lawyer Inesa Alenskaya provided the court with experts' opinion that the inscription "Long Live Belarus" is neutral and not offensive.

The defender also provided the conclusion of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences that the white-red-white flag reflects the colors of the historical flag of the Belarusians and that its depiction demonstrates national pride. The defense petitioned to summon a specialist to the court, who could explain the absence of signs of desecration in the inscription "Long live Belarus" and in the depiction of the white-red-white flag. But Judge Shut denied this request.

The court also presented the conclusion of the head of the department of genealogy, heraldry, and numismatics of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences Aliaksei Shalanda on the white-red-white flag:

"This is a national symbol of the Belarusian people, which had state status twice: in the Belarusian People's Republic in 1918-1921 and in 1991-1995. National symbols are designed to unite the nation in the struggle for state self-determination, independence, and sovereignty. The use of national white-red-white colors cannot do any harm to public order, not to mention the moral side of the issue. "

State Prosecutor Julia Dauhala asked the court to punish Maryja under Article 341 of the Criminal Code with arrest for 2 months. This is almost the maximum penalty for this article.