The Minsk City Court sentenced Belarusian Yana Pinchuk to 12 years in prison on the case of administering three opposition Telegram channels, which the country's authorities recognized as «extremist». This was reported by the telegram channel «Freedom to Yane Pinchuk».
Pinchuk was found guilty of creating an extremist formation (part 1 of article 361-1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus), calls for action against the national security of Belarus (part 3 of article 361 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus ), incitement of hatred (part 3 of article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus), ensuring riots (part 3 of article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus) and the creation of a terrorist organization (part 1 of article 290-4 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus).
According to the investigation, the girl managed the telegram channels “Vitebsk 97%”, “Orsha 97%” and “Novopolotsk and Polotsk 97%”, recognized in Belarus as “extremist”.
In November 2021, at the request of the Belarusian authorities, Russian security forces detained Pinchuk in St. Petersburg. A few months later, the Prosecutor General's Office approved the extradition of the Belarusian oppositionist. In July, the Second Court of Appeal of St. Petersburg confirmed this decision, so a month later she was sent to the Vitebsk pre-trial detention center No. 2.
The UN Human Rights Committee forbade the extradition of the girl and demanded that she be granted asylum, but Russia refused to comply with this decision, citing its inevitability. Pinchuk said that she was in danger of being tortured in Belarus.