Belarus’ Supreme Court has upheld the sentences against four members of the “Russian Orthodox Church — Tsarist Empire” sect, which was designated an “extremist formation” in Belarus. Leaders of the organization and one participant received prison terms of between five and five years and three months.
Hanna Stryukava, Halina Fralova and Volha Baikouskaya were each sentenced to five years and three months in prison, while Voshchenka O.P., described as an active participant in the “formation,” received a five-year sentence. Stryukava and Baikouskaya were also fined 21,000 rubles each.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, they also committed “intentional acts aimed at inciting national and religious hatred and discord.”
Investigators said the convicted women used the Telegram channel “Dve Masliny” and personal social media accounts to promote the idea of creating an independent state called “Triune Rus” across Russia, Belarus and Ukraine under a monarchical form of government. They allegedly called on followers to swear allegiance to a tsar, destroy documents, and refuse education, medical care, work and state benefits.
Leaflets were posted on buildings belonging to religious organizations and in public places “to discredit the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and incite hatred and discord against Jews (followers of Judaism), representatives of other religions, including canonical Orthodoxy, as well as Judaism.” Fralova and Stryukava also organized communities with strictly controlled rules in villages in the Vitsyebsk and Hrodna regions.
“In accordance with the prosecutor’s position, the appellate ruling of the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the court of first instance, which has now entered into legal force,” the press release said.
