Harsh sentence handed down to journalist Kseniya Lutskina

On 28 September, the Minsk City Court passed a harsh sentence upon former journalist of the National State TV and Radio Company Kseniya Lutskina. Kseniya was accused of conspiracy or other actions aiming at takeover of power (part 1 of article 357 of the Criminal Code).

Political prisoner Kseniya Lutskina worked for the National State TV and Radio Company until August 2020. After the presidential election she joined the strike of the holding employees and then left her position as a correspondent of the Belarus 2 TV channel to join the main board of the opposition Coordinating Council.

Kseniya later said that together with other journalists who had quit, they planned to create an “alternative TV channel” on YouTube. The project developed with the help of the Press Club Academy, among others. The first programs were recorded, and the launch was to take place in January 2021.

Kseniya was detained on 22 December 2020 in Minsk, her house was searched for four hours. Since then the journalist has been kept in a pre-trial detention center.
Today she was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment.