Марина Косинерова. Фото: Алиса Горчар
On October 14, security forces visited the homes of relatives of Maryna Kasinerava, co-founder of the human rights project Dissidentby. The officers said they had received information that Maryna had allegedly returned to Belarus.
“The trial in absentia is the day after tomorrow, and people in uniform and plain clothes have become agitated. Today, from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m., they went to all my relatives they could find, looking for me. In some places, they said that ‘the boss said I had come home,’ while elsewhere they said that I would ‘be deported anyway and sooner or later I would be in their hands,’ and that they would give me ‘a long sentence,’” Kasinerava wrote on Facebook.
Kasinerava links the visits by security forces to a motion she submitted requesting that she and her lawyer be allowed to examine the case file.
The trial in absentia of Maryna Kasinerava and her husband, Viachaslau Kasinerau, is set to begin on October 16. They are accused of creating or participating in an “extremist group,” inciting social hatred, discrediting Belarus, insulting Lukashenka, and facilitating “extremist” activities. Maryna is additionally accused of repeatedly creating an “extremist group” or leading one.