Belarusian Journalist Convicted Over Anti-Lukashenka Rally Flees Country

MINSK — Well-known Belaru­sian jour­nal­ist Aksana Kolb, who was sen­tenced in mid-June to serve 30 months in an «open prison» for tak­ing part in an unsanc­tioned ral­ly against author­i­tar­i­an Belaru­sian ruler Alyak­san­dr Lukashen­ka, has fled Belarus.

The edi­tor of the Min­sk-based inde­pen­dent week­ly Novy Chas (New Time) wrote on Face­book on August 8 that she is cur­rent­ly in an unspec­i­fied for­eign coun­try.

«I do not have a home now. But I have a big dream — to sit in the first row in a big court­room in which all those who deprived us of our home­land, and some peo­ple of their lib­er­ty, will be tried,» Kolb wrote.

A court in Min­sk hand­ed down Kol­b’s sen­tence on June 15 after find­ing her guilty of orga­niz­ing and prepar­ing activ­i­ties that dis­rupt­ed social order.

«Open prison» is a work-release sen­tence com­mon­ly known across the for­mer Sovi­et Union as «khimiya» (chem­istry). The sen­tence dates back to the late-1940s, when con­victs were sent to work at dan­ger­ous facil­i­ties such as chem­i­cal fac­to­ries and ura­ni­um mines while liv­ing in spe­cial near­by dor­mi­to­ries instead of being incar­cer­at­ed in pen­i­ten­tiaries.

These days a khimiya sen­tence is seen as less harsh, as con­victs stay in a dor­mi­to­ry not far from their per­ma­nent address and work either at their work­place as usu­al or at a state enti­ty defined by the pen­i­ten­tiary ser­vice.

Kol­b’s sen­tence is sim­i­lar to oth­ers hand­ed down under Lukashenka’s harsh, and some­times vio­lent, crack­down against dis­sent after he claimed vic­to­ry in Belarus’s August 2020 pres­i­den­tial elec­tion. The coun­try’s oppo­si­tion says the elec­tion was rigged to give Lukashen­ka a sixth term in office.

The 67-year-old, who has been in pow­er since 1994, has direct­ed the cam­paign to arrest tens of thou­sands of peo­ple. Fear­ing for their safe­ty, many oppo­si­tion mem­bers have fled the coun­try.