{"id":7483,"date":"2021-01-13T07:05:09","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T07:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=149304"},"modified":"2021-01-13T07:05:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T07:05:09","slug":"court-fines-89-year-old-grandma-for-long-live-belarus-protest-chant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/13\/court-fines-89-year-old-grandma-for-long-live-belarus-protest-chant\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Fines 89-Year-Old Grandma For ‘Long Live Belarus!’ Protest Chant"},"content":{"rendered":"
A Minsk court has found an 89-year-old woman guilty of violating protests laws nearly a month after she was detained alongside dozens of others at a weekly rally of retirees calling on strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka to step down.<\/p>\n
The Leninsky District Court on January 12 slapped Valeria Smirnova with a fine of 870 Belarusian rubles ($337), or more than half the average monthly income in the country, for participating in an unauthorized protest.<\/p>\n
Smirnova was one of more than 100 people detained<\/a><\/strong> by black-clad security forces in Minsk on December 14 during a regular Monday demonstration of pensioners backing the country\u2019s pro-democracy movement.<\/p>\n Smirnova\u2019s daughter, 67-year-old Lyudmila Bystrenko, was also detained. The women spent more than six hours at the police station before being released.<\/p>\n According to Smirnova’s great-granddaughter, Daria, the soon-to-be nonagenarian was punished for shouting “Long live Belarus!” alongside other retirees.<\/p>\n An anonymous witness–a police officer who spoke in court via video link–confirmed this account, the Belarusian news site Tut.by reported<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\nCrisis In Belarus<\/h3>\n