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Political prisoner Hanna Ablab celebrates her birthday in prison

Updated: Mar 8, 2023

On 9 March an employee of "Belarusian Railway" and a defendant in the notorious "Rabochag Rukh" case will celebrate her 45th birthday. Unfortunately, she will celebrate her 45th birthday in prison, where she is serving an 11-year sentence.


An appeal in the case of the BKDP and the REP trade union will be considered in March
Hanna Ablab

Hanna was detained on September 22, 2021. The reason was the opening of a criminal case for treason against the state (part 1 of article 356 of the Criminal Code). The arrests of employees of Belarusian factories, who supported the strike and were members of "Rabochy Ruch", began. This initiative was declared extremist on September 21, 2021, and at the same time workers were detained all over the country. Hanna, was also charged with part. 3 Article 361-1 of the Criminal Code (participation in an extremist formation) and was placed in the KGB detention center, then transferred to the SIZO-3.


On November 9, 2022 the examination of the "Rabochag Rukhu case", in which ten political prisoners were involved, began in the Gomel regional court. On the second day of the trial all defendants in the case stated to the court that they did not admit their guilt in treason and creation of an extremist formation. All persons involved in the "Rabochag Rukhu case" refused to testify at the trial. On December 27, the process was closed until the verdict was passed, although it had been held openly before that.


On February 17, 2023, a verdict was passed in the case. Judge Alexander Piskunov found Hanna guilty and sentenced her to 11 years in a general regime penal colony. Hanna has three children, two of which are minors.

The Belarusian political prisoner recently got a symbolic godmother, member of the German Bundestag from the Green Party, Beate Müller-Gemeke, as part of the Libereco #WeStandBYyou campaign.


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